Innocence of the Young

First of all, I have to prep you on a little story before I can tell the one that I've actually come to tell.

It was the night of my sister's rehearsal, and I had stopped at this quaint bed and breakfast where my family was staying for the weekend to pick them up and take them to the rehearsal dinner. My aunt introduced me to John, who ran the bed and breakfast. She also informed him of that bright neon light flashing above my head that read, "SINGLE! SINGLE!".

John is probably about 5 ft 7 1/2 in, looks like he's probably in his late 20's, and is a little on the creepy side.

He's also an aspiring photographer, and I happen to have interest in the subject, so we visited for a while about cameras and so on and so forth. However, as we were about to leave he just had to show us this video he constructed of one of his photo shoots.
The music was horrible. Now, I know I'm a music freak, but even my cousin was making fun of this horribly corny music under her breath.

Finally! We're heading out the door and he tells me that he would love for me to join him and his friends for evening. They were going to go see Madagascar 2 but understood that I couldn't since it was my sister's rehearsal dinner and all. I politely thanked him for the offer, but there was no way I was going anywhere with this guy.

So, the whole night my family teased and teased me about my boy, John.
"I'm sure John would love to be here!"
"Reagan, when you go out with him, make sure you where flats. You don't want to hurt his feelings."
"John" this. "John" that.
"What a cute video John made!"

And then....
My little 13-year-old cousin Austin decides to pipe in:
"Yeah, I'm sure John would LOVE to make a video of you!"

Awkward pause....
Jodie his father laid his hand on Austin's shoulder then looked at me and said, "He doesn't know what he's saying, Reagan. He doesn't know what he's saying."

I, of course, began to laugh so hard I was crying. I thought my brother was going to fall to the ground. Austin was completely oblivious to what he had just said.

However, I'm thankful that he was. Innocence is something very special and irreplaceable.