"Today A. was telling me about this screenwriter he was talking to the other day who did a deal for..." I paused and realized I was sitting with a nine year old in addition to my sister Lindsey. I turned to little D, who is growing so much taller than the impish little six year old girl (grieving her father's violent death outside of our apartment complex) she was when we first met. "A is a co-worker of mine who was telling me about someone he met in law school--" I explained when D. cut me off.

"Are you in law school?" D asked me.

"No, I'm not, I work in legal--" I stopped because her eyes widened and she looked concerned.

"Well what kind of illegal work do you do?"

"Um...well babe...not illegal..." I said. "LEGAL, like as in having to do with the law and analyzing it-- not breaking it."

And I thought:

Unlike your mother.