Uncle John (Not Pictured)

On Saturday, Cody, Cordelia, and I drove up to Belmar to spend some time with Aunt Mary Beth and Uncle Walter. The big bonus was that Aunt Monika and Uncle Sean were up there, too.

In the afternoon, Monika, Sean, and I went down to the beach with C&C. I didn't particularly want to go into the water, but the kids wanted to jump waves and Monika and Sean were game, so they took them out. Cody held Aunt Monika's hand while he jumped and splashed about; Cordelia held onto Uncle Sean.

After maybe 15 minutes, Cordelia did to Sean what she normally does to me with wave jumping. She declared that she was tired and asked if she could just come up into his arms while he stayed in the water. Because Sean is awesome, he said yes and the two of them spent a lovely long while in the surf with my beautiful princess wrapping her arms around them. Who knows what treasured words passed between them that hour.

Back at 606 6th Avenue, Cordelia was incredibly affectionate with Sean. Clearly their relationship had moved to a new level of affection. She even cuddled into his arms out on the porch. And it was there, in his arms, that she declared, "I love you, Uncle John."

My head snapped around. I stared at her.

JVL: "Uncle John?"

CML: Yes, I love you, Uncle John.

JVL: His name is Uncle "Sean." It's "Sean." You've known him for four years--your entire life.

CML: [scrunches up her nose in disbelief] No! It's Uncle John!

JVL: Not "John." "Sean." Uncle Sean.

CML: Really?

It was like Michael Bluth talking about Egg Ann. "Her?"

The term the shrinks use, I believe, is "transactional."