blindsided

We were sitting down to a relaxing meal when I was blindsided.  By relaxing meal, I mean that my buddy had completely covered the hand I use to hold his plate in food and had moved on to stuffing peas down his shirt.  Then out of nowhere, monkey bear says, "Will my buddy be a Daddy when he grows up?"

After I swallowed the lump in my throat the conversation continued:

"No, he won't be a Daddy"
"What will he be?"
"Just a grown up."
"Why won't he be a Daddy?"
"Because he has Down syndrome he can't have kids."
"Oh, so he'll be a Buddy Walk guy."
"Uh sure.  And he will be an uncle to your kids."
"Can I call him Uncle Phil?"
"You could, but his name isn't Phil."

It's funny how things you don't think of often come up in the most unexpected ways.  I hate having to say it out loud and put it so plain to monkey bear, but I don't want to lie to her.  I wouldn't want her blindsided by the truth some day.