Me: Good morning, Nate. Please stop working in the office and go get dressed for school so we can walk Cooper before breakfast.
Nate: Okay, but, Mom, I didn't want to tell Sam the advice from that slip of paper yesterday, (her fortune cookie indicated she would receive important advice from a child) but now I'm going to mail her this (bullet pointed list):
Inmportant edvice
*be peaceful
*Use less oil
*check your smoke detectors
*Have more fire drills
*Walk (Cooper) more
*Walk more (you)
*have communitty warnings louder
*be thuoghtful
*obey the golden rule
*obey laws and rules
*don't wake your mom up! ("this one is for Jarrah.")
*wake your mom up if a passout
*don't choose to live in Jail.
*don't choose to shoot.
*have choosing freinds (meaning have lots of friends.)
*Have Home SECUIRTY
7:30am walking the dog
Nate: Mom, do you think you will ever decide what religion you are?
Me: I don't know, I see great Truths in several of them.
Nate: Well, we are Jewish and Christian. You know, because we celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah. Eva doesn't believe in God, but I do, and I believe in Jesus Christ. I'm confused though, how is Jesus Christ the son of God, but Mary was married to that other guy? And how did she know she had a baby in there anyway?
Me: Stories from the Bible can be confusing; there are lots of miracles that really have no logical explanation.
Nate: I am not going to celebrate Islam because I am not kissing a stone, and going to that place would cost a lot of money, so I'm not going. I would rather go to France.
Me: Cooper, quit pulling me...yes, honey, Mecca would be a long way to go wouldn't it?
Nate: I think we might also celebrate Hinduism because you believe in Shiva and I believe in that elephant with four arms. But let's not celebrate the part that we can't pick our own jobs and the part about the slaves coming from someone's feet. Buddhism (pronounced booty-ism) is better for that part, but I am not shaving my head and I will shake my booty.
Me: Shake, shake, shake...shake, shake, shake; shake your booty...That sounds good, did you bring a poop bag?
745am Breakfast and packing lunches
Nate: Mom, how come white people were better than colorful people? (MLK holiday has been prominent in his awareness this year.)
Me: They weren't, Buddy. The people that thought so were wrong.
Nate: Then how come Martin had to go to jail? Did Rosa also go to jail? Cooper is kinda like Rosa because he doesn't do what he's told either.
Me: The laws were different and wrong about segregation back then. Cooper, on the other hand, needs some basic manners, regardless of his color or breed.
Nate: How do guns kill, Mom?
Me: I think we need to wake up your father. Did you see what I did with my coffee?
Nate: How do they, Mom?
Me: If a bullet enters a body, it could pierce a vital organ like a heart, causing it to stop working which would then cause death. Please drink your milk and clear your dishes.
830am
Me: Okay, teeth and hair then you have "free choice" till it's time to go to school. Maybe you'd like to watch some TV.
Nate: When I grow up, I am getting rid of all the guns. If we need to have a war, then we will use points instead of guns. How do you know when a war is over anyway?
Me: I think the points system is a great idea...Shaaauuuunnn...
Nate: How do you know, Mom?
Me: When both sides are ready to compromise. Where is your father? Is Johnny Test on? I have to get ready for work.
Sometimes I’m exhausted by the time the spray of the shower hits my face in the morning. Nate is a morning person, and he’s pretty much turned me into one too over these last (almost) seven years. I do love the very occasional morning that I am up first and get a cup of coffee in the dark and quiet solitude. I had such a morning recently, it was lovely but the best part was when my sleepy boy finally came down the steps and silently crawled into my lap for a long snug. It reminded me of the first time he slept through the night. I was wide awake at the normal 5am and so wired and excited he had slept, that I couldn’t go back to sleep myself. Plus, I missed him.
I am a lucky, lucky mom to get to be home and hang with my boy every morning. As much as it may wear me out at times, I'm honored and grateful to hear all the many directions his brain is moving. Maybe I'll figure a way to stop nagging him one of these days. Because really, it’s no wonder he can’t put his shirt on the proper direction the first time, he’s got a lot on his mind.
The luxuries in our lives have been far curtailed, but this one, this time together is one I'll hold onto for as long as I can.
