Eating machine

This weekend we enjoyed a short but wonderful visit from our old college friend Sean and his wife, Priya, who live much too far away in Seattle. After a day at Callaway Gardens and a dinner in downtown Columbus, Priya got a taste of Will’s desperate passion for moon-watching.

Here’s the scene driving home, with Will moon searching from the back seat and me explaining away our inability to spot that soft magical night light:

I can’t see the moon. Where is the moon?

I don’t know Will. These tall buildings may be blocking our view of it.

I’m going to eat up all the buildings so I can see the moon.

That would be something to watch you eat up all the buildings. But it might also be that we can’t see the moon because it’s a cloudy night and the clouds are blocking our view of it.

I’m going to kick all those clouds into the road and eat up all the buildings so I can see the moon.

Soon after, as we gave goodbye hugs to Sean and Priya before Will went to bed (they had an early morning flight to catch), Will threatened quite sweetly to eat them up so that they could stay with us too.

But they got away undigested and the moon stayed tucked behind the clouds and we're all feeling a little sad about it now. (There is still hope, however, that we won't go years between our visits with Sean and Priya this time. Will, who sort of enslaved Priya and Sean as his playmates this weekend, is currently devising a little scheme in which he and Ally hop on their motorcycle and go and retrieve both of them from their "far, far away" home.)