Some Things are Harder to Explain than Others

Sam is at the age where he asks a million questions a day. Some are easier to answer than others. Why do flowers grow up instead of down? How are fossils made? We haven’t started a list of some of his most thought-provoking questions, but we should.

Every day when Elise, Sam and Pete come to my office, they have to pass through the main gate. Unfortunately, it’s not like visiting most dad’s at their office. Elise turns the car off, takes the key out of the ignition and opens the hood. She shows the guard her identification while another guard pops the hood and looks at the engine. A third guard looks at the bottom of the car and under the wheel wells with a mirror, then opens the trunk. He asks if all the bags and sacks there are her’s. Another guard uses a special wipe on the door locks to detect explosives. I don’t think I’m giving anything away here. Any Brazilian waiting outside for a visa to go Disney World or the Super-Target at the Dolphin Mall could tell you the same thing.

When Sam asked, we told him they were checking our engine and car for us, kind of like routine maintenance. But he’s getting too old and too smart for this to ring true much longer. I don’t think he’s asked again recently, but I can sense it coming. He is disappointed when he doesn’t get the opportunity to say “Boa Tarde” to the guards as they check them in.

I haven’t decided yet what to tell him. He is too young to know there are people in our world who may want to hurt his dad just because of where he works or may want to hurt him just because of where he is born. In fact, I plan to keep the evils of the world from his for as long as possible. I have trouble telling him that the ‘meat’ that meat-eating (carnivorous) dinosaurs (those Sam likes to call the ‘roaring dinosaurs’) is, in fact, other dinosaurs. I don’t even like to acknowledge that they eat each other. Though I acknowledge he will probably be exposed to much more—and at any earlier age—than many of his peers. This will be both wonderful and scary, for him and for us.

Living abroad is a double-edged sword. While it may be our hope to avoid some of the pitfalls of what may be common now in small-town, everyday Americana, drug abuse, teen drinking, abusive peer pressure, living abroad will have its own unique challenges. Not the least of which will, no doubt, make him a better boy.