Il Bacio

I have a picture called Il Bacio that hangs in my dining room. It shows three children. Two girls and a boy. The boy is sitting in the middle of the girls and is kissing the cheek of one little girl and the other little girl is scowling at him. I bought the picture because I identified with the scowling little girl. I wanted to be the one who got kissed but the boys always seemed to choose the other little girl instead of me. One day when my daughter was about five years old she looked at the painting and exclaimed, “Mommy! Look at that!” She pointed at the picture. I responded, “Yes?” She continued, “The little girl getting kissed is wearing SHINY SHOES!” She was right. That little girl was wearing patent leather shoes and the scowling one had on ratty sneakers. My daughter identified with and focused on the attributes of the girl getting kissed. I promptly replaced my ratty sneakers with patent leather shoes. I rarely scowl anymore.