Then VS. Now

I can almost guarantee that at the beginning of every school year, one of my boys will have an assignment about themselves. It might be to tell about their life, their summer, or their family.

This year, the fourth graders had an interviewing project. The first criteria was that the interviewee needed to be at least 55 years old. Colby chose Chris's parents. We e-mailed the questions to them and Colby asked with every new e-mail if they had responded!

A few days later, the answers came and Colby was eager to get his project done. He took the answers to the table and was quiet for a long time. After reading through the answers Colby came up to me and said, "Wow, Popcycle had an interesting life!"

My father-in-law was born in a small town in Arkansas -- in his home, not a hospital. He lived on a farm and fed animals, brought in wood for their kitchen stove, brought water inside from the well. His best friend was his brother and they didn't have lots of toys, creating games themselves instead. So, you can imagine that I was interested in hearing what this 21st century kid would be amazed at with his grandfather's childhood.

With complete sincerity, he said, "Mom, Popcycle doesn't remember eating in one single restaurant when he was my age!"

Yep, that's my boy!!