Melanie Akin

My Mama called me Miss Smarty Pants when I was a child. It may or may not have been true. The name was often followed by me being in trouble yet again with Mama.

My youngest brother learned early to make Mama laugh and avoid an unpleasant situation. I credit my bloodline; no names will be used here.  The guilty parties are safe, on both sides of the family. They each however know who they are!

The cousin I admire for her smarty pants  skills doesn’t live close, sadly. She is hilarious and learned to make people laugh when she was young.

Miss Smarty Pants had guts! She wasn’t scared of anything. She could be a bit sassy at times, or so I am told. There are probably a few stories that go with my inner Miss Smarty Pants. My Mama doesn’t write a column thank goodness. My brothers should be even happier than I am that she doesn’t.

The task of keeping my inner Miss Smarty Pants under control has proven to be a challenge throughout my life. She threatens to come out at the most inappropriate times and she has something to say that shouldn’t be said. Sometimes she has escaped, and then I am in trouble for something she said or did.

A close friend refers to her as MSP. This friend will request that I keep her at home. You guessed correctly if you thought she had something to say about that. The truth is that we all have a Mister or Miss Smarty Pants inside of us. Some people are able to hide their inner smarty pants. Others put their inner smarty pants on display for the world to see and never bother to hide it. Some have worked hard to sharpen the skills of their inner MSP.

There is a good thing about my inner MSP and that is because she has guts. She will push me to do the things I may be afraid to do. Some chances are worth taking. There are things I may not have accomplished without the help of MSP. She reminds me that I can do the things that seem difficult, makes mole hills out of mountains and that the impossible can become possible with hard work.

A little MSP can be a good thing, but too much gets me in trouble.