Annacdotes 17

1. I was reading the newspaper one morning and Anna asked me to read her what I was reading. After checking to make sure she really did want me to read to her from the Faith section of the newspaper, I started reading her an article about the mainstream media's efforts to cover religion. I read:

On the first day of Ari Goldman's "Covering Religion" class at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he likes to begin with a question.
"How many of you have ever been to a mosque?"
About two of the 16 students typically raise their hands.

I wondered if she even understood half of these words. I continued.

"How many of you have been to a synagogue?"
About half raise their hands.
"To a church?"
Almost all hands go up.
"In the last 10 years?"
Hands go down again.

I thought, does she have any idea what's going on? But she didn't say anything, so I kept going.

Goldman's first goal is to bring his students up to a level of religious literacy.

I stopped here to see if she understood any of it. She looked deep in thought and then asked, "Did you just say 'glitteracy'?

That answered all of my questions.

2. The other day, we were at Costco and we passed a man whose beard was perhaps down to his knees. We were about five feet away from him when Anna pointed at him and said in a too-loud voice, "Whoa, Mom! Did you see that guy's beard?!" I quickly ushered her away, and told her that it's very impolite to point and talk about people and all that. She didn't seem to be paying much attention, however, to my motherly instruction because she giggled and said, "Yeah, but his beard was about as long as a baby giraffe's neck!" At least she was out of earshot by this time.

3. A recent conversation (and of course it was out of the blue):

Anna: [excitedly] Mom, let's pretend that I knitted both of us.
Me: 'Knitted'?
Anna: Yeah, like with yarn.
Me: [laughing]
Anna: No, I'm serious!
Me: [laughing]
Anna: For real lives!

More laughing from me. I couldn't even respond. I was so caught off guard.

4. During a recent discussion about space the other day, Anna asked what a galaxy was. I told her it was a huge place where the sun was and all the planets and stars. Then she said matter-of-factly, "And the aliens." I said, "Well, actually, no. Aliens aren't real." Then, all surprised, she said, "Then what's on Mars?"

5. While driving in the car the other day, Anna and I had a conversation about traffic lights. A minute later, as we sailed through a green light, Anna said, "That green light would NOT get pinched on St. Patrick's Day! But the rojo one will!"

I don't know what it was . . . the random St. Patty's reference, the impromptu Spanish addition . . . it could have been anything. But whatever it was, it delighted me.