Four year olds – sorry 4 1/2 – come up with all sorts of reasons why they cannot go to sleep – last resort are really important questions: “Where did the first parents come from?”. Everyone has parents but what about the first ones? Did they come from eggs?
So I try to balance bed-time urgency with a complete review of the Origin of Species – briefly covering Tadpoles and Frogs, and the difference between Apes and Men, trying not to scare her sleep by talking about cave men.
Go to bed now. Papa – why are we not furry? We have clothes. I’m trying to watch Doris Dorrie’s film “How to cook your life” with Edward Espe Brown, a Zen priest and cook. The movie was underwhelming. I look forward to and hear Ed Bown speak next month.
Papa – why do you wear glasses? It is getting late and the questions become less philosophical . Or maybe not. We sit on the stairs and I explain that as you get older the muscles in the eye are not as strong anymore.
With the promise that we will sit together in the morning and a big hug, she disappears.
Where did the first parents come from?
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How to cook your life – the book, some 700 years older than the film – finished by Eihei Dogen in 1237 – is much more inspiring. More about that later.