Manga

I dearly love my granddaughter Eliza, but she is the most brutally honest person I know. I remember a visit to Chicago last summer when she was in the living room playing with Allyn. I was also in the living room and said something to Allyn. Eliza looked my right in the eyes and said, "I'm playing with Manga now. You should leave."
I moved to the kitchen where Erin looked at me and laughed. "Did you get kicked out, too?" she said.
I recounted this incident to my son-in-law, Andy, and he said, "Oh for sure, nobody can measure up to Manga."
Allyn/Manga actually got her unusual nickname from Eliza. It was as close as Eliza could get to Grandma  a few years ago. Among Allyn's many fine qualities is patience. She is able to engage with Eliza through all of her lengthy and byzantine narratives involving bunnies, elephants, Baby, The Three Little Pigs, and others. Eliza loves her for that, and much more.
I have returned from Brazil, but Allyn is still down there. Today is her birthday. Eliza has been singing Happy Birthday to Manga for days now. So Happy Birthday to the world's greatest wife, mother and grandmother. Happy Birthday to Manga!