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.

A Romantic Story or Cow, Marriage, Priorities

I heard a good story recently. My friend was telling me about her son Paul, a struggling farmer. When he was young and just starting out, he was seriously dating a girl. After some time, things had proceeded to the point where she was hoping for a ring at Christmas. Instead, Paul spent his money on a tractor. His girlfriend dumped him. She later married and had children, and is living happily ever after as far as anyone knows. Paul, meanwhile, had a good decade of regretting what he'd done. In all that time he dated only sporadically, and had no serious prospects. And it looks as if he learned something from that long ago mistake.

Recently, a wonderful young woman showed up in his life. In short order they became inseparable, and decided to get married. They're scrimping and saving for the wedding, which is coming up in a couple of months. Then a close relative of hers passed away unexpectedly. She was really rocked by the death. She wanted to go to the funeral, but the plane ticket was exorbitant, and they're scrimping and saving for their wedding. But Paul realized how important it was for her to go to the funeral. Without even telling her, he sold one of his cows. Then he told her to go ahead and get her ticket, because they had the money for it.

Looks like he got his priorities straight now.

Nasty Bit of Cattiness

I heard a nasty little story the other day, and I just keep thinking about it. I was talking to my friend, who works in administration at the school I used to work at. A parent called to ask a question. My friend didn't have the answer, so referred her to another staff member. The parent replied, "Oh, is she the one whose husband is cheating on her?"

OK - is that just the coldest, cattiest thing to say? This parent didn't even know my friend, and she didn't know the other woman. Did she really think that was acceptable thing to say in a polite, business conversation? I know it happens on TV, but I guess I didn't really think people were like that in real life.