Before Breakfast Yesterday:
Terry:
"Guess what's going to happen today, girls?"
Fiona and Neve excitedly ask,
"What!?"
Terry:
"Today, there's going to be a solar tsunami!"
Neve:
"Tholar thunami?"
Fiona:
"What is that even?"
Terry: "
It's like a tidal wave of lava on the sun instead of water on the earth."
Both girls are quiet. The excitement exits the front door. Brain gears are now turning.
Fiona:
"What does that even mean?"
Terry:
"Nothing much for us, except maybe some lights in the sky. It may cause some transmitter problems, but that's about it."
Me, thinking: I had no idea I married
this guy.
And so, Terry goes off to work and I am left with one child who has already moved on to things of greater importance than the universe, like her cereal. (Where the hell is my cereal, mom?!) And the other child is paralyzed in thought as she ponders her existence and how it relates to the sun and it's solar energy.
Thanks, honey.
Throughout the day, Fiona would ask
"what's it called... the thing that's happening on the sun?", obviously unable to shake this morning's bit of space trivia. I must have said "solar tsunami" over 4 times yesterday; a phrase I'd never uttered before in my life.
Around 8:30 as the sun was setting, Fiona says (completely out of the blue):
"Mom? And what's the big deal about those sun waves anyway? I mean, it's not like the earth even cares or anything."
Me:
"You're right. It's just the sun's business." (I'm not thinking- just talking.)
Fiona:
"Yeah, and Mario (from Super Mario Bros.)
didn't even see the sun wave when he went there."
Me:
"Honey, Mario isn't real. He's just a cartoon."
Fiona:
"I know, but if he was real he wouldn't be scared of sun waves because it's just the sun's business."
Me:
"Hey, does the solar tsunami kind of scare you? It's okay if it does..."
Fiona:
"Yes."
{pause}
"Because it's like... waves of huge fire."
Me: "
Does all of space kind of scare you a little, because it does me a little?"
Fiona:
"Yes."
{pause}
"Because it's really big and it's where darkness and God live."
. . .
The good news? Space is just fear of the unknown. There's plenty of stuff right here on earth to frighten you, honey. Like this:
or this:
or this:
Sweet dreams!
