One of the problems with being a scientist like I am is that it isn't always the type of work you go home and brag to the kids about. You know, like a policeman - "I caught 15 bad guys and put them in jail!" or like a fire fighter "I saved a doggy from a burning house!" or even a teacher, "I taught 26 children how to read". It's a little more abstract...
Leif knows I am a scientist - kind of like Professor Wiseman on Curious George - but he has just started asking me about my day and what I did at work, what I study as a scientist. He is still young enough that I can couch it all quite simply and phrase it in a way that makes it sound fascinating!
"I work with submarines," I told him awhile back.
This maybe wasn't the best idea.
"Did you go on a submarine today mom?" was the common question on the way home.
"Can you show me the submarines?"
"Do they put the submarines in the Columbia River?"
"Do you drive the submarine up and down the Columbia River?"
The notion that I direct a team of people exploring an issue with submarines is completely foreign and not exciting at all. Neither is the fact that none of us will EVER see the inside of a submarine EVER because of something called "confined space entry" also makes no sense whatsoever. (Kind of doesn't to me either.)
The other day Leif overheard AB and I talking about a proposal call open that is out for chemical weapons research.
"Do you have weapons at work mom?" he asked suddenly, we didn't realize his ears were perked.
Question time. Honesty or not?
"What I do at work sometimes involves understanding weapons," I told him homestly.
"AWESOME!" he replied.
Today we were walking home from the park.
"Do you have arrows at work mom?" he asked me.
"Arrows? No honey, I don't have arrows at work," I replied.
"Well you said you work with weapons!" he retorted.
Oh if it were that simple!!
No comments:
Post a Comment