Teddy Roosevelt's Assassination

Some blog posts just scream in my head to be posted and will not relent until I capture it in words. THIS is one such post.

I worked a long day today. Josh had football practice until 7:30. Kevin had mentioned they had not had dinner yet and I was way too tired to try to cook after working 12 hours so I suggested that we go to the local Mexican restaurant. This was met with hearty hurrahs. At dinner, Kevin said to Josh, "Do you want to show her or do you want me to?" These are words that strike fear into every mother's heart. Those of you who have older children understand fully. Your mind starts to race about what in the world it could be this time.

Kevin gets Josh's Case-it organizer out (he has it at the dinner table since he's working on some homework) and starts to dig through it. My mind is racing: he failed a test; he got detention; he wrote an ugly note to somebody -- what, what, what????

And out comes a drawing. "A drawing?" I think. Hmmmm.... THEN I read the note from the teacher that says, "This is what Josh was doing during social studies." There is a sticker that says, "Please sign and return" with a line out beside it. Ahhh.... "Think fast" I tell myself. No one is moving, or speaking at the table, waiting to see what my reaction will be.

"What exactly is it?" I say, trying to take it all in at once?

"Erasers"

"Ummmm.... what? I mean I see something that looks a little like a gun with what looks like the words Pecan Trap on it. I think this is a limousine, right?" I don't mention the stick man riding what appears to be a dinosaur.

"Yes. [hold on to your seats here, folks, here's where it gets good] It's a limousine and that's the Death Ray gun and that's a picture of when Teddy Roosevelt got assassinated. It's what we were studying in Social Studies. Those aren't bullets. They are erasers coming out of the gun."

Oh. Right. Don't laugh, I tell myself. Do.Not.Laugh.

I look at him as straight-faced as I can and I say, "Honey, Teddy Roosevelt was not assassinated. It was Abraham Lincoln."

"Nope," he says, "It was Teddy Roosevelt. He was riding in a limo."

Kevin jumps in to save both of us [true history buffs that Josh and I are] and says, "It was John F. Kennedy that was shot riding in a limousine." He's right, of course, but since then I've wondered, "How does Joshua know that???" They are in the Civil War so I doubt they've gotten that far.

I signed the paper and wrote a note to the teacher that I spoke with him about it and told him to listen in class.

At least he has a great imagination. I keep thinking back to the stories my mom used to tell of all the times she got in trouble at school for drawing on all her papers. And, look, she became an artist.

I just hope Josh doesn't decide to do historical art or they might have to re-write history.

By the way, Theodore Roosevelt died in his sleep of a pulmonary embolism on January 6, 1919. According to all sources I can find, it did not involve erasers.