Almost 12-years-old, my daughter Elena would generally
prefer if I didn’t talk to her friends, even when they are guests in my home.
But last Sunday I managed to get in a few words with one of her new school
friends, who had come over to work on a science project. A friendly and
well-poised girl with writerly ambitions, she shared with me how she likes to
make up scenarios of what the future will hold for her, her family and friends. “Like
what?” I wondered… —
“Well,” she said, “I’m going to go to Stanford, and while
I’m at Stanford my father is going to finish his Ph.D. in history and become a
professor of modern Jewish-American history, and then after I do a lot traveling
I will write a book…”
In truth, I can’t quite remember all the plot turns, but I
was very impressed with her enthusiasm for life and what lay ahead, and whether
it’s my child or someone else’s, I get a lot of joy from hearing kids talk in
earnest about their future.
“What’s going to happen to Elena?” (I figured I’d ask.)
“She’s going to go to Harvard,” she said with conviction.
(Obviously, a kid who knows what to say to parents) “And then she’s going to
end up in Kentucky.” (Kentucky?!? I
take back everything I said.)
—Eric Messinger
