Abyss

Recently I took Melanie and Isabella to my parents house in Andover, MA for a week.

My parents have a large and beautiful home that is full of many beautiful things. My mother is an artist and so the walls are covered with her paintings, the floors are covered with beautiful painted canvas floor coverings, and the spots in between are used to display her huge collection of sculptures from Indonesia and New Guinea. In addition to being an artist my mother is really really REALLY into kids. She had 5 of her own and currently has 9 grandchildren. She loves having these grandchildren over and so she collects lots of toys for them to use when they are around - a play kitchen with baskets of play food, an indoor see saw, a full sized ski ball machine (!), a play tool bench, infinite art supplies for kiddie projects, shelves and shelves of kids books, blocks, balls, multiple tricycles, miniature doll houses, the list goes on.

The result - lots and lots of STUFF. I say this all in good fun, knowing my mom will read it. Mom - I love you and all your stuff! Anyway, lots and lots of stuff.

At one point Isabella lost one of her slippers. I searched and searched but couldn't find it among all the stuff. Isabella said "Where is my slipper?" I said "I don't know... the Abyss swallowed it."

Wow... I would soon come to both regret and celebrate the introduction of the topic of an "Abyss". The day went like this -

I: "What's an abyss?"

H: " Um... an abyss is a great expanse of space... so great that it can swallow things up and they disappear forever."

I: "Does it have a mouth?"

H: "No... it doesn't have an actual mouth... stuff just sort of falls into it."

I: "Does it have eyes?"

H: "No"

I: "Will it eat me?"

H: "No it won't eat you!"

I: "Why?"

H: "Because you are too big."

I: "Will it eat Melanie, since she is smaller than me?"

H: "No, the abyss doesn't eat people."

I: "Why?"

H: "Because people make sounds, and if you fall into the abyss then we could find you when you make a sound."

I: "Will the abyss eat this turtle ?"

H: "Yes, the abyss could eat the turtle."

I: "But the turtle makes sounds."

H: "Yes, but the turtle only makes sounds when it is moving, and so it could be swallowed by the abyss and we wouldn't know it was there since it wouldn't be moving."

I: " Could the abyss eat the pool table?"

H: "Yes"

I: "But the pool table is too big!"

H: "Yes it is big, and usually big things are less likely to be swallowed by the abyss, but in this case you can see that the pool table is starting to get swallowed up by all the stuff on top of it, so much so that you can't actually use the pool table, you can barely even see it, so in this case the pool table might get swallowed by the abyss."

I: "But it is too big!"

H: (repeats last answer)

I: "Is there an abyss under my bed?"

H: "No, there is no abyss under your bed."

I: "Where are all the abysses?"

H: "There is one around the pool table, one in Grandma/Grandpa's storage area, and one in their fridge."

I: "Do we have an abyss at home?"

H: "Yes, behind our couch."

This went on and on ALL day. She asked perhaps 100 questions, trying to get the concept of an 'abyss'.

Then, that evening, Isabella knocked her spoon off the table while eating dinner. I said "Where is your spoon?" She said "The abyss ate it!" Later on she called her dad on the phone. During the conversation she came running over to me and said "Mama, Dada says there is an abyss in the garage!!!"

And then as I was tucking her in - "Mama, will the abyss eat me while I am sleeping?"

Days later, the questions are just starting to wane. Yay for inquisitive kids.