If you are not tired of Thomas yet...read this

I sold a car today… woohoo. We have recently upgraded to a seven-seater to fit all our visitors.

In other news Thomas had quite a busy day: he got engaged. When I picked him up from school today his Teacher, “Teacher Salome”, said that Thomas came up and told her that he and Mtanda were getting married in seven weeks when they grow up. Hilarious, naturally I had to keep the humor going and followed up on the car ride to his friend’s house where I have been doing swim lessons.

“So, Thomas, why do you want to marry Mtanda? Is she such a nice, good girl?”

“Um yeah, and her face is sooo beautiful.”

“Oh, that is nice too. So where are you guys going to live?”

“Um, at my grandma’s house.”

“Oh, well what if Mtanda misses all of her family in Zambia?”

“Ah, mom, I was just kidding I think I just want to marry someone with white skin.”

Yikes did I back peddle…this opened up a whole new discussion. Over the next fifteen minutes of driving we covered the following topics:

Interracial marriage – “Honey you can marry anyone you love, it doesn’t matter what color their skin is.” “Okay, but who can I marry with white skin. ” (Apparently my explanation was lost on him.)

gay marriage – “Mom, can a boy marry a boy?” (I thought I still had many years before I had to deal with this one) “Baby, Heavenly Father wants you to marry a girl so you can have a family.”

Islam and other denominations – he was distracted from marriage talk by the large Mosque we passed which naturally led to… why doesn’t our church look like a castle (mosque) and why don’t I go to church with my friends.

Needless to say, when I arrived at our destination to teach swim lessons I was pretty pooped.

Later this evening I asked him to tell daddy his important news. “Dad, Mtanda really wants to marry me and so I asked her to marry me but I was just joking. I am going to marry my grandma when I grow up and live in Hawaii.” “Tom, I thought you wanted to marry Mtanda.” “Ahh, mom…. No because then every one will just say ‘look at that African girl’.”

Luckily the topics have gotten a bit lighter as we just finished bath time. Seth came out to report the following conversation:

“Tom, why is the floor wet?”

“Um, I was just making some beer and I spilled some of it.”

And my bath time dosey:

“Mom, when I smile, I have such a nice face. When I smile, do I have the nicest face in the whole world?”

I feel like I am writing a mini-bus slogan (public transport here) but seriously, “Lord help us!”