Friday, January 8, 2010

Conversations With Children

1. On the way to basketball practice:

BRODY: "McKenna and I think that when someone dies, they come back as someone else."


ME: "That could be true. I don't know."


BRODY: "I think I lived in Japan and my name was Takito."


2. After Charmaine put hair extensions in my hair producing the illusion of great length and volume:

BRODY: "That looks good, mom."

ME: "I know. Do I look younger?"

BRODY: "Your hair looks younger."



3. After I finally realized that Gunnar was trying to get in the house since he forgot his key and it was fricking freezing outside and he had been out for a while (he didn't ring the doorbell, so it's not completely my fault):


ME: "Gunnar, what are you doing?"


GUNNAR: "Trying to get in a window. Thank's alot mom." (spoken in a very sarcastic tone)."


ME: "Where's your key?"


GUNNAR: "In my room." "And on top of that I just found out that that an 8th grader killed himself over Christmas break and I knew him."


ME: Very huge gasp with hands over my face. "Oh my God. What happened?"


GUNNAR: "His parents were fighting and he went and got one of his father's guns and shot himself."


ME: Another very huge gasp. "Oh my God."

5 comments:

Charmaine said...

Holy Shit. That'll teach you. No more fighting. One of the kids might get out the snow blower and....I don't know what.

Unknown said...

Oh my God. What kind of world do we live in that children are so overwhelmed with their lives that the only thing they can think to do is end it? And how do you even begin to talk to Gunnar about it? Wow. I am at a total loss.

Briana said...

So far I have just been trying to get more information from Gunnar. Now he says that the boy's father hit him alot and that he was being charged with something. Sometimes Gunnar makes things up, though, so it's hard to say.

But I'm still trying to figure out how to best to talk about it.

Briana said...

Just an update. I spoke with the psychologist at the school and, apparently, the kids were only told that this boy died from suicide. They were never told how or why, but those are the rumors floating around the school. I think the kids are trying to figure out a way to process it so they are coming up with theories.

Charmaine said...

Oh, I forgot to to mention to tell Brody that it is impossible that he was "Takito" from Japan in a former life because...that was me.

Advise him that, alternatively, he might have been Buddah.

But I'm Takito. Hello.

Remember that little boy accross the street that hung himself in the garage in Boulder?

How could someone so young not want to live? There must be some massive torture beneath this.