I suppose any kid who has eaten a kid's meal at ChickFil-a knows that if you take the little book included in the kid's meal back to the cash register, they will exchange it for ice cream. Grandson Elijah has done this many times. Today, as he was eating his dish of ice cream with chocolate syrup, he suddenly asked, "How are books turned into ice cream?" I about choked on my Coke Zero as I realized what he was implying. I mean, you hand a book to the cashier, she takes it away, and she returns with ice cream for you to eat. Elijah was simply making an innocent connection that I had never even thought about. You turn in a book and it's turned into ice cream. Later this afternoon, as I was telling his mom about it, he asked the question again--like yeah, how are books turned into ice cream? I said, It's magic. He liked that answer. Ah, the innocent age. So sweet but so brief. Love you, Elijah Man. You made my day.
