Bobby tends to ask about his gift when we are walking in the morning, which prompts Mary to pop in with her request as well. He will around in the double stroller to face me, and say Mommy, I want to ask the baby something. The other day it went something like this:
"I want to ask the baby for a present."
"Go ahead."
"Baby, I want a big. Toy. Race. Car."
"How about a little one, buddy?"
"No, a big one."
"Well, that's something for Santa to bring. The baby will probably bring a little one because she's going to be very little."
"Okay."
Mary jumps in next. "I want to ask her for something too, Mama."
"Alright."
"I want a doll that can sing ... and dance ... and grant me wishes."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Mary, that doesn't exist."
"Why not?"
"Because, nothing can just grant you a wish."
"But that's what I want."
"What would you wish for anyway?"
"To be a grown up."
"Oh ... and why would you want to be a grown up?"
She then started spouting off the things she could do as a grown up: be a lifeguard, a garbage collector (they love our guy and his truck ... "but that would be smelly, huh, Mommy? Yeah, very smelly"), the person in the restaurant that takes you to your table, a teacher just like Mrs. Demuth, a ballerina, someone that sings at our church, married, and a mommy.
I let her know that being a four year old was pretty special. There was plenty of time to be a grown up.
***
I run, and at this point of my pregnancy, walk with my kids just about every day. Thanks to the BOB double stroller, I have my own little running group and I love the company, conversation and fresh perspective it allows as I pound the pavement each morning.
Bobby is particularly observant these days, pointing things out and asking me about them as we go, primarily focused on all modes of transportation.
We say thank you to the garbage man as he lifts Bobby's stinky diapers into his truck. He waves back with a smile.
We count the number of trains we see - those heading further west and those heading downtown, remarking on how Mommy will have to do that next year.
We watch the construction workers pour the cement out of the truck, into the bulldozer, and onto the smoothed gravel.
He asks what's that as landscapers unload tools of the trade from their branded trailers.
We wave to the police men and firemen vigorously as they zoom past with their sirens blaring, on to their first mission of the day.
Bobby comments on the noise of the motorcycles, race cars, and monster trucks we occasionally see on the road.
I explain the contents of the various trucks that we run into: sodas, fruits and vegetables, furniture deliveries, a catered breakfast spread from Labriola.
We guess where the planes flying South are headed and start to plan our next vacation.
As we come around the corner on our way back home, we say hi to mailman Jeff and Bobby asks again and again if he can ride in his truck.
Four miles later, we have simulated a Richard Scary book. I like to think everyone has learned a little something; and recently, I think it's been me more than them.
That is, as I watch Bobby and Mary enthusiastically wave to the police teams in their cars, lawn service men sitting three in a row in their pick up trucks, the mailman on his route and various truckers making their rounds, I see the way they smile back, proud of their roles and the rigs that they drive. And it reinforces why Mary called out some of these jobs in her grown up wish list.
Between Mary's role models and Bobby's favorite truck drivers, these are people that touch our lives every day. They make our communities, our cities, and our country work. They also drive the cool cars, have their own Halloween costumes, and smile as they take you to your table, put your backpack on, wave you through the construction zone, and rev up their lawnmower.
You can't always say that as a brander ... an aspiring executive ... a CEO someday. My wish list, that never quite made it onto Mary's.
As I get ready to say goodbye to 'work' as I know it for the next three months, I'm reminded that what Mary most wanted to be as a grown up was a Mommy: a caretaker and a cake baker, a hostess and a laundress, a distributor of hugs and kisses and a granter of perpetual wishes.
Lo.
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