When my daughter was two, we had an especially lean Christmas. We were still coming to grips with how to make ends meet after both my wife and I had lost our jobs; casualties of The Great Recession. Fortunately for us, not all consequences of our newfound squalor were negative. One example was my childhood Garfield plush toy. My daughter loved stuffed animals and loved Garfield. Not only was it logical to gift it to her (after a thorough cleaning), but she was ecstatic to receive it: win win!
Fast forward five years, and my daughter is now seven, and much more aware of how things are supposed to be. Keep in mind that she's owned this particular toy for five years after it had belonged to me for who knows how long. Unlike me, she actually played with him, so the mileage on the toy itself was starting to show, making her inquiry all the more curious.
With an inquisitive look on her face, she asked me about the "odd" location of the whiskers on her Garfield doll.
"Aren't whiskers supposed to be closer to his nose?" She asked me, genuinely confused.
"Mija," I said, "Garfield is a cartoon character, and cartoons do not have to conform to reality, because they're not real."
"But in the movie, he is real," she countered, placing emphasis on the final three words, as though this settled the matter.
Of course he is.
