I think he knows.

I understand why some people purposefully choose to have one child only. I'm glad I have a brood, but everytime I get to spend good, quality one-on-one time with any of mine, I think, "ah - this is what it would be like all the time. No bickering, and lots of awesome conversations with little people"

(I know I know - I'd miss out on so much of the quality time they get to spend together - playing, loving, and yes, even the lessons about conflict they are learning every second of every day, but every now and then one just sounds....)

So, today, I had three good hours with just my first born.

She and I have very, very similar personalities - well, not really personalities - she's more dramatic - both on the positive and negative ends - but very similar brains - a brain I inherited directly from my father.

(Daddy and) Ada and I think the same way and speak the same way. And, while on occasion, it can be infuriating, most of the time, it means we have these awesome conversations.

So, Bee and I ran errands and visited. No interruptions. Delivered Christmas pickles and went to WalMart and got gas, etc.

My father gave her Island of the Blue Dolphins for Christmas. This is a childhood classic - I read it in 5th grade or something - and remember it pretty well. I think it's where I first read the word "abelone", which I mispronounced for 15 some-odd years. I'm also pretty sure it started the

"What are you going to be when you grow up?"
"a Marine biologist"

trend. Do you know how many of those 11 year olds who said "Marine Biologist" are actually marine biologists?
Any?
I didn't think so.

Well, Ada finished the book yesterday. And loved it. Every second of it.

So, I started talking to her about it.

Well, at the end of the book, the main character, who has lived alone for years, and is now a young adult (ada bee estimates 20 - i have no idea), has to leave her island home and go away with more civilized people. She doesn't really want to be part of their world - wear civilized clothes, etc. Ada Brooks and I debated what she should have done, what the civilized people should have done, etc. etc.

She thinks that grownups should be able to live the way they want to as long as they aren't hurting anyone. Little Ron Paul constituent on my hands. I tend to agree, though of course my old age

(my little brother has started calling me middle-aged. Kiss my a.double.s, Paul Eason)

makes me tend a little more toward the "but you need to be in respectable society and follow, generally, the mores thereof" end of the things. Which Ada understands, but isn't there yet.

So we have this great talk in which I think,"yeah - I like you."

And, so we left the blue dolphins conversation, and we're rocking along, kind of quiet, and she says:

Ada: What if we went to that church (that she sees out the window).
Me: Well, we'd miss this and this and this about Immanuel. (Where we go to church now)
Ada: And we'd miss our long and exciting sermons.
Me: Are you being sarcastic?

Ada: No. I like a long sermon - more time to color. And ours are exciting.
Me: Exciting? I like our sermons most of the time too. I've never picked the adjective "exciting", but I'm glad you think so.

Ada: It's beginning to look a lot like Advent[a recent sermon title of ours]???? Mama - what could be more exciting than that?"

Me: You should tell Steven they're exciting - especially when you like a specific one. (Steven Wedgeworth, our interim pastor and most-time preacher, specifically preacher of the Advent sermon she referenced)


Ada: I guess, but, I think he knows.





(Clearly, conversation ensues about encouragement not always being about things people don't already recognize in themselves....)

My morning as mother to an only child came to and end with a smile. We picked up her brothers, and they all giggled and threw hands around necks, and we were glad they have siblings. But for that moment, it was pretty amazing.