'Wake Up, Buddha'

We have a statue of the Buddha on a low table. Little Uptown, now 4, sees Buddha as a playmate--an inanimate friend, a metal doll. She puts the copper meditation bowl over Buddha's head like a helmet, wraps necklaces around the statue, sets her dolls down to rest on small pillows.

Over the weekend, she loaded the table with dolls--so many that several had to sleep on Buddha's lap.

Then she put her face right up to the Buddha and shouted, "Wake up!"

There's a first time for everything; I bet that was a first for the Buddha. And I'm sure of one thing: Buddha laughed.