Meine Kleine Madchen

OK, all the parenting books tell you how to talk to your kids about all these BIG ISSUES like the birds and the bees. They have a Berenstain Bears book for helping families deal with death, stranger danger, bullies, bedwetting, new siblings - I mean those poor little bears must be curled up quivering in some dark corner of a closet by now with all the trauma they've gone through. But there's one topic they never cover. I know; I've looked. Dr Dobson and Dr Phil don't cover it. And it's an uncomfortable topic that needs to be handled delicately; one of those you don't want to give implicit approval by ignoring it or make it attractive by coming down hard on it. True, it's not something EVERY parent has to deal with, but it's there. I'm talking about Hitler fascination.

Yes, SGK has been fascinated with him for years. In fact, she used to claim that he was her very mean ex-husband - but he never hurt her, he was just 'never around'. I couldn't even make this up. So, last night after we sang 'Jukebox Saturday Night' and 'Lamplighter's Serenade', I'm waiting on her to go to sleep and all of a sudden the dark quiet is pierced by:

SGK: "When I get to heaven will I get to talk to Hitler?"
ME: "What?! No, I doubt if he'll be up there waiting on you! Do you think he'll be there?"
SGK: "Yeah. I don't believe in the 'bad word place'. So, he has to be in heaven."
ME: "Well, what would you say to him."
SGK: "Just..I don't know. Have lunch with him and ask him why he did all that stuff."
ME: "Well, what do you think he would say?"
SGK: "I don't know. That's why I want to ask him."
ME: "Well...uh...I don't know. Your mom answers all the religion questions. She says I have bad theology."

This went on for a little bit and, I mean, it just blew me away because she went on to say that in her view Jesus died for us all and he forgave us all and why shouldn't that include Hitler? I mean, I didn't have an answer for that.

Wow, we ate at a really great new restaurant tonight. It's a real Mexican buffet, not Tex-Mex. It's called El Encanto - I know it sounds like the name of some Aztec spectre that attacks tourists who wonder off the main camino. But the food is great. It's Mexican home cooking, lots of potatoes and peppers and stew and about five very fresh salsas and guacamole. Very good stuff.

Man, today was another surreal one at the Last Public Place in America. By 11 AM we had a gaggle of bankers in the meeting rooms, two school groups touring through, an adult day care making their weekly visit and of course the usual suspects. And between stints amongst 'em I'm writing legal documents and policy statements and having a meeting to commit to several hours of writing assignments. By 3:00, seeing it all swirling seamlessly around me, it hit me that it was one of those days there where I marvel at just how amazing this place is. I mean museums, sports arenas and shopping malls have multitudes, but they're all there for the same purpose. But here it's unique to each individual. I really felt privileged to be there today.