“I Need A Rock”…

“A rock?”

“Yeah, I need a rock for school. We need to find a rock that fits in the palm of our hand and we’re going to learn to take care of it”, said the eight year old.

“Will you help me find one?”, he asked.

“Um, no”, I answered. “But I’m sure if you go into the gravel pit -the one sitting on our driveway you’ll find at least one”.

“OK”, he yelled as he ran outside.

Moments later he came in with a small rock. It was smaller than the palm of his hand and he seemed a little anxious.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“It might be a bit small and it’s dirty. I’ll go clean it up”, he ran upstairs.

I went back to what I was doing which was my daily scan through Facebook to check up on friends, colleagues and the 19 year old (she’ll be 20 tomorrow but that’s another story). I was just checking the newsfeed when I heard the blow dryer. I did a quick inventory. The husband’s hair has never been near a blow dryer -his hair is practically shaved. The almost 20 year old hasn’t lived at home since last summer and the dog and cat wouldn’t willingly use something they routinely run for their lives to get away from.

That left me and the eight year old and I was at the kitchen counter.

As I rose to investigate I heard it stop and the eight year old descended the stairs, we met half way up/down depending on your state of mind.

“What was that?” I demanded.

“I needed to clean my rock”, he answered.

“With a blow dryer?” I asked.

“First I had to wash the dirt off and then he was wet so I had to dry him”, he said looking at me like I was nuts.

“It’s a rock”, I said looking directly into his eyes because if I was crazy I wouldn’t make eye contact. I read that somewhere.

“No. He’s JR and he’s my friend and I have to take care of him”.

I was still processing that information when he ran to get the tiny Snoopy book case that is shaped like a doghouse. He grabbed some tissues and shoved them into the little opening and put his rock in it. He strutted past me triumphantly.

I wonder if that kind of nurturing exercise will lead him to want to look after the dog and the poop in the yard and remembering to feed the cat and vacuuming the cat hair.

Probably not.