Inday

Inday has been with the baby since dani was 6 months old. Now dani is turning three and the two are inseparable. They go to bed together, eat together, and play together. When dani goes for a bubble bath or pupu, Inday patiently waits for her behind the bathroom door.

But Dani's endearment to Inday has its sacrifices. Look at her closely. She sports what seems to be like a five-o-clock shadow. But she’s a girl and that which appears to be a beard is actually the outcome of months of kissing Dani – dried sweat, tears, drool, and chocolate. You cannot possibly not get a sniff because that doll's head will be forced up your face for a kiss (you have to kiss Inday when Dani tells you to do so). And she's been washed only a total of three times (the last one notwithstanding Dani's screams).

Today she needed to be washed again. Dani cried, of course, but we went the lengths of explaining to her that Inday was just going to take a bath and that she'll be back tonite to sleep with her.

Looking at Inday sitting serenely in the washer, i mulled at how perfect it would be were it that easy to cleanse oneself of life's blemishes.

But when she came out of the dryer, i figured out that life's stains, such as Inday's, are a little bit tougher to erase.

and those permanent stains make Inday, to Dani, simply Inday.