Emerald knows a legend when she sees one

You didn't think I'd post a picture of an Aztek, did you?

I've written about my son's engineering inclination (one article/video posted here, and others waiting to be posted). Something my daughter said recently made me chuckle and pause to recognizer her.

While we were driving the other day, she said "That's a weird-looking car? What the heck is that thing?" I looked to where she was pointing, and there was a Pontiac Aztek, legendary in that it finds itself on every "ugliest/worst cars list" that has likely ever been written. I'm pretty sure she hasn't read any of said lists, so her comment was no effort to be part of the gang, or to join the pile-on.

Objectively, to an uninitiated 11-year old girl with no particular interest in cars, the "thing" is indeed hard to look at.

Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I suppose those people who did choose to be seen in an Aztek actually like their vehicles. For every car I think is beautiful, there will be someone out there who doesn't agree. Such is the nature of aesthetic.

What makes her comment intriguing to me is that Emerald is a very socially-oriented person. She is happiest when with people, and she connects with people's emotions at a higher level; she notices things, picks up on things, is tuned in to things that most other people miss. I got what she was saying - it wasn't so much the vehicle itself, or any knowledge of the history of the vehicle's public image...but it seems that what she picked up on was the aura the car puts out, the vibe that seems to resonate about it with people. 

I've always felt she'd make a great detective or forensic profiler - she's the kind of a person who'd show up at a crime scene and see the one thing that everyone else missed, that one detail that just seemed oddly out of place or curiously situated at the scene, that one thing that changed the entire direction of the investigation and lead to the apprehension of the suspect. Which was no fun for me to realize because that would be some depressing work for a person as effervescent as Emerald is...

How relieved I was when my wife recently mentioned that Emerald would make a good sign language interpreter because she picks up on emotions and body language that would be of value when communicating without sound.

She might also make a good car salesman, almost sensing exactly what model in the showroom best suits each person who walks through the dealership door. Just glad there'd be no Pontiac division to woe her.