Kids Say the Darndest Things...

This week has been an odd one for sure. First of all, I am the shipping and receiving departments at the manufacturing company where I work. We have equipment that we are taking to the FDIC trade show in IN next week. Needless to say, this has made my life complicated at work. The stuff has to ship out tomorrow, and it looks like most of the work is done at this point. So, that's a relief.

Yesterday afternoon, I started to have some sinus discomfort. I had a hard time sleeping last night, so I was really tired and grumpy today. The reason I say this is that I'm surprised I was able to accomplish so much at work today, and I was REALLY ready to be home this evening.

So, Jen and I got to the school to pick up the kiddo. We walked into the computer lab, where all the kids are after school, and peered toward the front, trying to identify our kid. I know that sounds terrible, but let me explain. The computer desks are arranged in rows, all facing the front of the classroom. The door is at the back of the classroom. It seems like all the boys have THE SAME haircut, and most of them are brown-headed, like our son.

I swept over the classroom at all the little brown heads, poking up from behind CRT-monitors all over the classroom, trying to pick the right one. Quickly, I identified my kid on the front row. He had the headphones on, and was playing some game on some kid's website. There was a little, curly-blond-haired girl sitting next to him. Sometimes, we will just holler at him when we get there. Usually, he can hear us through the headphones. Other times, we will sneak up behind him and try to startle him (which is really funny for all three of us, I might add). Today, I decided to walk around the front and put myself in his range of view on the other side of his monitor.

I walked to the front of the classroom, and started tapping my fingernails on the case of his monitor, and he started shutting down applications in response. This is when Curly-Sue addressed me.

"You must be Isaac's dad," she said inquisitively.

I paused for a moment. It always kind of freaks me out when the other kids address me when we are dropping off or picking up. It's not like it bothers me, per se. It's just that I never expect it, and I never know how to react to them. But with a smile, I answered, "Yes, I am."

"Well, I have a dad," she then said, "but he's not a Christian."

How the hell am I supposed to react to that? I had had a busy, unpleasant day, and all I wanted to do was to go home, and weird little girl was getting all personal with me. Regardless, I kept my composure and asked her, "Would you like me to pray for him?" I mean, honestly! What was I SUPPOSED to say?

She wrinkled her nose and shook her head, "That's OK. I have a step-dad too."

"Well, that's good," I told her. Then, I returned to the welcome solitude of my family, and we went to hunt for his hoodie that he left somewhere when the temperatures were high today.

Seriously, kids can be so odd. I don't think that there was anything at all wrong with this little girl, but adults don't typically tell personal issues to complete strangers on their second sentence unless they have some serious mental/emotional issues (or if it's over the internet! ;-P). What causes us to gain inhibitions that we lacked when we were young? It would be great if we could just be that open with other people without assumptions of serious baggage.

As a matter of fact, before this time next week, I intend to say something really inappropriate to someone else. I don't know what it will be, or who to. But, I'll have to let you know about it afterwards. For that matter, I will extend the invitation to all of you that bother to read me on the intertron to say something highly uncomfortable sometime within the next 168-hours, and tell me about your experience in my comments section. Come on, you can do it!