I was TAGGED! TWICE!

Vacation memories...boy style.

Mom and I were driving to Costco with the boys today, when it occurred to us that one year ago today we were on St. Simons Island. We spent a few minutes remembering that time…the beach, the house we stayed in, building a fire after dark and making s’mores…even the Brave Little Toaster video we watched. For a few minutes the blissful golden feeling of that vacation filled the van. Max even stopped poking Tre in the back of the head. It was sweet.

Then Tre muttered,

“Yeah, but remember the shell? The HUGE shell you wouldn’t let me keep?”

I was puzzled for a moment, not having the instant recall of all events (other than chore-related) that children have. Huge shell? Why wouldn’t I let him keep a huge shell? Then it all came back to me.

“Honey, that shell had something living in it. You can’t just stuff a living creature in your suitcase.”

“Appa said I should have put it in the microwave.”

“It was ALIVE, Tre. You can’t KILL something just because you like its HOME.”

He stared out the window, mulling the ramifications of that. Or so I thought.

“I could have pulled it out with pliers, I figure.”

I sighed.

“You know, Mama, it was the biggest shell I EVER SAW! It was SO COOL.”

“Living thing. LIVING THING.”

“You couldn’t even see if it really WAS a crab. All you could see were two hands that looked sorta like chainsaws.”
”Living thing, Tre.”

We arrived at Costco, and fell into a flurry of unloading boys and selecting carts. Tre walked along a low wall by the entrance.

“C’mon, Tre, let’s go,” I called, almost reflexively.

“I could have put some chicken outside its shell, and when it came out…”

“Tre,” I sighed, “it was ALIVE.” I was starting to worry about his basic level of empathy.

He grinned, and I finally realized he was really just trying to bug me. I had to laugh.

What a boy.

Comments

Kitty

Aw, if you'd let him pull it out he could have sauteed it with some butter and garlic, meal and knick-knack all in one ;)

Kismet

Ha! He gotcha :O

Cute post.

~K!

Amy

I let my boy keep a shell that had a creature in it one time (I'm not as kind as you, I guess) and of course it died and by the time we got it home it smelled like what I imagine PURE EVIL would smell like and I felt very STUPID! Good decision AND you kept the memory of the vacation unblemished. Believe me, I'll remember, next time!

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