our confident child

Good marriages have certain things that make it easier for the two people to stay connected to one another.

You know what I'm talking about -
Some couples have a common career (They are both pharmacists).
Some have a common interests (They both love classical music).
Some have an unusually strong sexual connection (I'll not provide an example here).
Some have common goals (Eradicating hunger).
And there are lots more.

Most marriages, I'd venture, have elements of many different of these things.

One of mine and Paul's strongest connective tissues is our common education. We graduated from the same college, in the same honors program, started and finished in the same year, with almost the exact same degree (Mine in both PoliSci and Philosophy, his in PoliSci with a minor in Philosophy. Yes, I was more academically ambitious. And his GPA was quite a bit higher... ).
We even had the same thesis advisor.

We studied together long before we were in love. (Well, he'll tell you he was always a little in love with me, which will, of course make me grin from ear to ear).

Because of this common education, we have a lot of the same memories. The same memories of friends, of experiences, of amazing moments in mock trial tournaments.
But, most connective, I think, is that we took a lot of the same classes from the same professors.
And we were studying ideas.

And we remember most of it still. Ask us again in 20 years, but for now, we can make reference to one another important ideas, people, books, essays, and each person knows exactly what the other is talking about. Our education wasn't comprehensive, but we have almost all of it in common, so we're always on the same page.

It is one of the many ways God has blessed us.

All that to say, yesterday, we were all five driving along. The kids were talking about God (which is always funny and oftentimes great). Eason said, "God can do anything! He is so powerful!" and I, leaned over to Paul and said, "I don't know... can God create a stone so heavy he himself cannot pick it up?"

Paul and I laughed. In our philosophy classes, that was one of the standard examples of how sometimes God's different attributes seem to be in conflict with one another or with logic. If the answer to the question is No, God cannot do that, then he is not all powerful. And if the answer to the question is yes, then he is not all powerful, because now there is something he cannot pick up...

I was talking to Paul, but the kids heard me.

Eason said, "God can do anything - he can create the big rock and then he can pick it up." Eason does not get the nuances of (albeit fruitless) philosophical exercises.

Then I said, laughing with Paul some more, "Yeah - can God create a square circle?" (Another of these (silly) attempts to prove that an all-powerful God doesn't make sense).

Well, this time, Ada Brooks chimed in.

"Mama - I don't see why that's a problem. Of course God can create a square circle. I can create a square circle."

I thought, "She doesn't have any self esteem problems."
But then, maybe she does: a little too much of it.

My daughter: not thwarted by logical impossibilities.