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March 28, 2007
Rituals
With things turning to spring, Lucas and I have started our nice-weather ritual of walking to school in the morning. When my husband was alive, he went to work much earlier than I ever have, and, as a consequence, I was up earlier most days than I am now. (You'll think I'm exaggerating, but, noise-wise, Brian eating his cereal for breakfast was roughly equivalent to a thunder storm. It was no use trying to sleep through it.) Back then, I went for a walk every morning. Even though I gave the habit up as soon as I no longer had someone waking me up, I have to admit that the walks were good for me. Exercise is a positive thing by itself, but it’s always helped me wake up in the morning. The time outside helps me feel more centered, as does the time to think.
Walking with Lucas is a slightly different experience. Because there’s not much to do on a walk besides look at stuff and think, we often walk in thoughtful silence, but this is also a time when Lucas will talk about things that have very clearly been on his mind (like the day last year when he told me that he didn’t want to grow up because he didn’t want to die). Yesterday, the boy seemed to be thinking about gender.
Conversation #1
Lucas: You know, everyone thinks the tooth fairy is a girl, but no one really knows because no one’s ever seen the tooth fairy.
Me: Wow, I never thought about it, but I don’t know why we all think the tooth fairy is a girl.
Lucas: Here’s what somebody needs to do. Somebody needs to set up a camera at night so they can get the tooth fairy on tape. Then we’d know.
Me: Wow, there’s an idea. [Thinking, “Good luck with that one, Tammy.”]
Conversation #2
Lucas: I really like praying mantises because they’re interesting and I read that after they mate, the female bites the head off the male.
Me: [pause] Yeah, I’ve heard that, too, but I’m not sure if it’s true.
Lucas: MAN! Why does it have to be the male? [mumbles] Maybe because he’s smaller.
Me: …
Posted by adrienne at March 28, 2007 10:57 AM
Comments
Last year I promised myself and Kelly that we'd fall asleep in the bed of the truck in the sun in some odd forgotten place, but we never did that. I suck for the things I don't do.
Posted by: chuck at March 28, 2007 03:21 PM
Well, Chuck, summer's comin'- you'll got another chance now :)...
And, Adrienne, unless you said what you did to try to protect Lucas from the truth :), I believe that he is correct in his facts about preying mantises.
Posted by: jp at March 29, 2007 12:47 PM
I'm not sure I was trying to protect Lucas from the truth as much as I was waiting to see what he thought about the whole thing. I could see why he might have an issue with it, although I'll confess to being surprised at how strong of a reaction he did have. He seemed to really be feeling the injustice.
Yay, summer! I am planning to spend the whole summer reading lots of fiction and soaking up the sun and hanging out with my friends (so WATCH OUT!).
Posted by: adrienne at March 29, 2007 10:09 PM