The other night we were hanging out with our granddaughters, preparing dinner. Kallie was out of town and Zack had to work late. Can’t remember how it came up, but I asked Harper what she would say if an angel of God appeared to her and said she could remove one thing from the planet, just name it and it would disappear, no repercussions, gone forever.
Elliotte immediately piped up “Pop Pop!” (The girl has a playful streak.) That evoked hysterics (even my wife laughed!). I told Harper I was hoping for a more considered response from her.
She thought it over (I love to watch that girl think). She finally nodded her head and said “Trash.” “Why did you choose that?” I asked. “It’s just piling up everywhere and ruining everything,” she explained. “Even our oceans are full of trash.” We applauded her choice.
Ellie chose to eliminate our elimination processes. “No more #1 pee or #2 poo or #3 diarrhea.” She thought about it some more. “And no more #4 barfing and #5 tooting.” She ended up adding two more, sneezing and burping. Then she tried to change the numerical order, but we told her that #1 would always be #1 and #2 would always be #2. “You can’t raise your hand in class and tell the teacher you have to go #1 and then toot,” I told her.
Karen’s choice was guns. Harper thought that was an excellent choice, and I did too. (Think of it—in one instant every single firearm on the entire planet would disappear—what would the world do next?) I can’t stop myself from thinking we would just re-invent them in a different way.
I asked Mason what her choice would be. She said, “Pop Pop” immediately because she knew that would get a laugh. Then she said something unintelligible. I don’t think she got the concept but she appreciated being invited into the conversation.
It was my turn. “I’m not sure you guys will like this,” I said, “but I would tell the angel of God dessert.” Their eyes got wide—they were horrified. “Why would you say that?” Harper demanded. I looked over at their mostly uneaten plates of cucumbers, broccoli and cheese quesadillas. “Let me ask you a question—why do you think your mom and dad give you a dessert.” They had to consider that one. Harper got it first (Love to watch that girl think–honestly, her brow even furrows a little). “So that we’ll eat our dinner,” she admitted.
I have figured out what I love most about being around very young people. They are who they are—you get what you see. God is trying to get me to be more like that.
What would you tell the angel of God?
I love this so much. It made me tear up a little. You captured their personalities so perfectly. I would ask to get rid of hate.
Cancer