setting: dinner table
menu: sautéed shrimp with red peppers and basil over polenta and an artichoke per person
characters: rachel, morgan, milo
context: it’s been a long day

Milo: “What’s that?” pointing to food on his plate
Morgan: “Polenta”
Milo: “What’s it made of?”
Morgan: “Corn”
Milo: looks at Morgan skeptically
Morgan: “Well, not corn on the cob…corn meal…” Morgan starts to look frazzled
Milo: “Polenta…like, the polenta in your body?”
Morgan: “Whaaaat?”
Milo: “yeah, the polenta in your body”
Morgan: “Milo, I don’t know what you’re talking about” Morgan definitely looking frazzled now
Rachel: “Do you mean placenta?”
Milo: “yeah, the placenta, the placenta in your body”
Morgan: “oh…well not exactly, that’s something different” cracking up and no longer frazzled

It started with telling Milo that I needed to clip his fingernails.

“Dad, when I’m an adult can I grow my fingernails long?”

“Milo, when you are an adult you can do anything you like”

“Like what?”

“You can grow your fingernails long, you can sleep all day, and you can eat a candy bar every night. But you know what, I’m an adult and I clip my fingernails, I don’t sleep all day, and I don’t eat candy bars every night.”

a moment of silence

“Dad…I’m going to be different than you.”