"Big dump truck!"

About three weeks ago we had a huge load of compost delivered to our house. I was at work, so I missed the excitement, but Craig and Isaac were home. Naturally they told me all about it when I came back home, but Isaac still talks about it on a daily basis -- often several times a day.

The story he tells me goes something like this:

Isaac: Big dump truck!

Mama: The big dump truck came to our house.

Isaac: Back door.

Mama: You and Dad went out into the yard to watch it. What did the dump truck bring?

Isaac: Compost. Bang bang!

Mama: The empty bed of the truck made a big noise when they put it back up.

Isaac: [in a worried voice] Hug.

Mama: Then Dad gave you a hug.

Isaac: [in a miserable voice] Happy!

Mama: Do you mean "scared," because the the big noise scared you?

Isaac: Yeah. Scared.

Mama: I think maybe you were scared and happy at the same time.

Isaac: Okay!

Mama: But then everything turned out okay.

Isaac: Yeah. Big dump truck!

But tonight I discovered that the story Isaac tells Craig is quite different. Apparently Craig's version of the story ends happily with "bang bang" -- completely missing, as Craig puts it, the "emotional arc." According to Craig, Isaac was scared when the gate of the truck's bed slammed back down (in fact, they both jumped), so why doesn't he ever mention his fear to Craig? Why is it only an important part of the story when he's talking to me?

This worries me, which is ironic, because what worries me is that I am passing my worries along to Isaac. Perhaps it's impossible for me, as an anxious person, to avoid sharing my anxieties with him, or perhaps he will be anxious no matter what I do, or perhaps he will inherit his father's even temperament. Time will tell. But I just don't want to set up an expectation of anxiety, to burden him with my assumption that he's worried about something. I should listen to him tell his own emotional story, without inserting what may otherwise be nonexistent fears.

Although, now that I think about it, the dump truck story ends well -- an exciting big truck, a scary loud noise, a reassuring hug from Dad, and everything is okay. That sounds perfect.