Traveling through My History

It was not the answer I expected, not from my pragmatic and history obsessed child. Kate was asked  "where would you go if you could travel in time?" and I so smugly thought that I knew the answer. Kate would find a seat in the corner of Independence Hall and watch the signing of the Declaration, or she would stand in the crowd when Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

I was wrong. Kate, who usually chooses to think with her mind rather than her heart, answered immediately. Forgoing a chance to ride on the back of Paul Revere's horse as he made his way from  Boston to Lexington, Kate opted instead for a seat in Mrs. Grow's fourth grade class, at a desk near mine. "I would go back to when you were my age Mom, and I would be your best friend".

From time to time my girls say things that actually make me stop, breathe and realize that at the end of the day they are becoming just the kind of people that I really hoped they would. They are becoming the kind of people I would like to have as friends.

Unfortunately I can't offer you a seat at the next desk but I can introduce you to someone who made fourth grade my favorite place to be: my partner in too much talking, too little working, and hours of laughter, testing the sanity of our poor teacher.

I'd happily give up my seat in Independence Hall to find a friend like Jim for Mary and Kate.