A Sentence I Never Thought I'd Put Together

I was a little rantier than usual last week. I'll try to tone that down this week. When I get going there's no stopping me. Except donuts. Donuts are great. But not Dunkin Donuts, and that's depressing. It's only here in Utah that Dunkin is not good. Other places they're fantastic and I was so excited when they first came here. Then I ate one. Not so excited. I was in JFK airport at 3:30 in the morning and the only thing that was open was a Dunkin Donuts shack, and those donuts were still better than the Dunkin we have in Utah. I was trying to be healthy, so I thought I would get a donut and a banana, thinking the two would cancel each other out. When I picked up the banana the guy behind the counter said, "I just want to let you know that the banana's are $3.50 each, are you OK with that?" I said no and put the banana back. And got another donut for $1. True story. I appreciated the Dunkin Donuts shack employee honesty. I'll never forget that Dunkin Donuts shack employee. Never.

Speaking of donuts I had to put together a sentence I never thought I'd have to put together the other day. We had Lehi Bakery donuts, which are the greatest of all the donuts. The girls were outside playing and I was watching them. They found some ants so they're blood lust was in full swing. Mirinda wanted to kill an ant, but she didn't want to use her fingers. So I'm watching her to see what she'll do. She thinks for a second, and then uses the end of her donut to attempt to squish the ant. I said, "Honey, don't rub your food on the ground." Then I said, "I never thought I'd have to put that sentence together and lob it at another member of my species. Thank you for that." She ate the donut and the ant was find. Win win win.

Priya started preschool this week and loves it. She is really smart and loves to learn. She also still qualifies for early intervention, so she'll be going to preschool 3 days a week and early intervention 2 days a week. Mirinda met her kindergarten teacher this week and really likes her. She starts next week. I'm so depressed that the both of them are going back to school. I'm really trying not to show it. People seem confused when I say that, but seriously I don't want them to lose the ability to be creative and have fun and use their imagination. Education is extremely important, but I never want them to lose the child like innocence. I realize I can't really control that. If you've ever listened to Logical Song by Breakfast in America, that's exactly how I feel. 

I really think one of the issues is we want our kids to be successful so we focus so much on grades and homework. Between that and screen time we're forgetting how to use our imaginations. We don't have the creative outlets that we used to. We end up with kids that can't communicate so they go deeper in their shell. That's my goal I think. To help them learn what they need to learn, but never lose the spark of who they are, and never squash their sense of happiness and wonder. I think we all want that. I often think about the dedication that CS Lewis wrote to his goddaughter Lucy in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe: 

"My Dear Lucy,

        I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather,”

—C. S. Lewis

That's really what I want. For my kids never to be too old for fairy tales. You can be responsible and should be. Homework must get done. Responsibilities need to be fulfilled, That doesn't mean we need to become unhappy robots in the process, and I really think that comes from fantasy and imagination. I hope that wasn't too ranty, but that's what I mean when I say I'm depressed about my kids going back to school.

We've got a new podcast episode coming out next week. We're reviewing the Biergarten at Lagoon, so please watch for that. Please give a listen and give us a review. We really appreciate it!