Quantum Physics

This is "Getting Ready For Oshkosh" week, so it's going by way too quickly. Some things are bigger fires than others and have to be taken care of quickly, because being gone for basically ten days makes everything more important. Banking, billing, mail, shipping, responses, etc. I've made one round of shipments today for SMA Stuff and have one more round to do before we leave, or it'll be two weeks before it goes out and that won't work at all. We're trying to get golf carts and hauling trailers and schedules and all that stuff figured out, fixed up, hooked up, and ready to go. Well, that's Steve, Nathan and Chuck's end, not mine. ;) Anyway, so it's getting a little more frenetic around here.

I had just pulled into the parking space at the post office and was getting ready to run in, when Kaylee says "Mommy, what is Quantum Physics?" I just kind of sat back, paused, and said "Where did you hear that?" She shrugged. "I dunno, just wondered what it was." Anybody else want to try to figure out how to explain Quantum Physics to a seven-year-old?? I told her it was a form of science that dealt with hard-to-understand things like matter and energy. "What's matter?" "That's what stuff is made of." "Like cookies have milk and eggs in them." "Uh, kind of, except it's the stuff that everything is made of, like our skin and a table and an egg, and...well...stuff. ALL Stuff that exists and takes up...space." Mom falls silent as her brain spins out. "Energy is like electricity, right Mom?" "Yes, electricity is a form of energy, and so is lightning and even motion." (Decided I didn't want to go anywhere else with this one.) "What's so hard to understand about that?" Exactly. What's so hard to understand about that?? *wipes brow*

So our next stop is the bank. We're pulling into the drive-through, and Kaylee says "Mommy, does dying hurt?" Ooookay. I go ahead and talk to the teller, roll up my window and think "Huh-can we go back to Physics now??" :O :) I told her that when she was born, it wasn't very comfortable for her either, and it was kind of scary and new and unknown, but that once it was over she was here with us and it was all fine and she didn't even remember any of the scary stuff. That dying is a little like that; that it's kind of scary and might not feel the best right when it's happening, but that once it's over, she'll be in a better place with people she loves and that she won't be bothered by any scary stuff ever again. I should have stopped there, because she got that, but she asked again if it would hurt. I told her it depends, but that I believe that God made our minds and bodies to protect us from the worst of fear and pain at that point. I still don't know why she asked that question, what brought it up, or what has been going around in that mind of hers about death, but that satisfied her for now. She did say "I want to go to heaven, but I want to wait and be here with you for awhile first. Besides, if I go to heaven too, you won't have anybody left here. Well, Daddy, but no kids." Sometimes I'm surprised I don't smell her wheels turning up there, as fast and furious as they seem to go most of the time. Just sit and talk to her quietly, one-on-one for a few minutes, and you may be amazed at what comes out. :)

Fortunately, I think that death and physics were the only two serious topics for that hour, and we moved on to laptop games and laundry once we got home. I've got more stuff I need to do tonight and tomorrow, and then it's "Pack For Oshkosh" time Thursday, and "Head 'em Up and Move 'em Out" on Friday morning. I'm not going to repeat last year's blogging about Oshkosh, I don't think. If I do anything it'll just be an accounting of what we did. This may be no more than "woke up, ate, watched airplanes, walked around, ate out, hung out." Which sounds juuuust fine to me. ;)