Honesty

I love the talks I have with my daughter, after her lights go out and before I leave her room.

Tonight she was asking if it is OK sometimes for her to have secrets. I told her that was OK. I realize that she's old enough to start wanting to keep some of her thoughts private. I told her it isn't OK to lie to people, but it is OK not to tell them everything.

Then she pressed the point about lying. She argued that sometimes it's OK to lie, or at least to stretch the truth. I agreed, that it's OK to stretch the truth, or even to lie a little bit, but only when it's to protect someone's feelings. She agreed that it's OK in that situation, but also to protect unicorns. And I had to agree. It's also OK to lie a little to protect unicorns.

Serendipity

We were going to meet my brother's family for dinner yesterday - a birthday dinner for their youngest. We were on the road already when they called to say they were having car problems and were running very late. We were far enough from home not to want to go back there, and not sure how to kill enough time. So we played it by ear, deciding just to drive around the little town where we were meeting. In the back seat our daughter fell asleep.

Then we passed a little outdoor ice cream stand, where there were floodlights, and people dressed as elves, and an enclosure with candy striped stanchions and reindeer. Real live reindeer with enormous antlers. We stopped and woke our daughter up. I wonder what that is like, to wake up to such a magical situation - Santa's reindeer in the parking lot of an ice cream stand.

We had our picture taken in a little red sleigh, with a reindeer and an elf. Then we had an ice cream cone. And then we headed to dinner. What a wonderful way to while away some time.

Sleepless Six Year Old

Here's what it is to have a 6 year old around.

Last night I had just crawled under the covers with a book, when a sleepy, tousled little girl walked into the room and said she was afraid of monsters. I pulled up the quilt to let her climb in and snuggle underneath with me, then turned off the light and tried to quiet her down.

After a little tossing and turning and trying to get comfortable curled up against me, she asked me about "Holy Hells." After a little back and forth, I'm pretty sure she meant "Holy Hill," which is a beautiful Catholic shrine at the top of a big hill, not too far from where we live. We talked about going there this Saturday. It's a beautiful place to visit in Fall.

That got her to wondering why we go to church on Sundays, but Jewish people go on Saturday, and why they're called Jewish, and what they believe. So I explained as best I could, and we drifted into a brief consideration of the triune god.

And then she fell asleep, breathing deeply, her head on my shoulder. In ten minutes, we dealt with make-believe, a misunderstanding, and some very large, important ideas. And that's what it's like having a six-year-old around.