Innocence

Jack and I are in the car, driving to pick his sisters up from school. On the stereo is the soundtrack from Rapunzel, which has been in continuous play mode since we got it from Mimi two weeks ago. As one of the love songs plays Jack asks "Is this real?" "You mean the movie?" "Yes. It's not real, is it?" "No, it's a cartoon movie about a story. It isn't real." "Yeah, because people don't steal babies in real life right mom?" Gah. How did we get here? Sometimes I really hate the world for being such an awful place, a place I can't even begin describing to my six-year-old bright-eyed boy, a place full of horrors beyond imagining. "No, people don't steal babies sweetie." "Yeah, they can just have their own if they want some!" Ugh. Again, how do I tell him about this? Will his eyes be as bright when he learns the real answers to these questions? "That's right baby, they can have their own."

My sweet little boy, I know that someday you will learn the answers to these questions, will learn that the world is full of sadness, pain and terrible things. But I hope that you keep this vision you have now, of a world full of love and caring, because we can't get there unless we can see it the way you do.