Mission accomplished

My buddy Kevin called me yesterday morning and asked me did I want to ride along with the family to see fabulous Mission Delores.

You see, number two son, Brendan, is in the Fourth Grade now, and in California Fourth Grade is traditionally your mission year.

No, I don't mean you put on a black suit and hand out literature at the shopping mall. The kid's a little young for that yet. I mean this is the year Brendan studies the California Missions. You know, you go visit a mission, you write a book report about a mission. You build a mission out of sugar cubes and Elmer's Glue.

Well, in my day you used sugar cubes. Now you can buy a whole kit. In the gift shop at Mission Delores, they had this sort of prefab build-a-mission kit.

I guess it makes sense. Nobody has sugar cubes anymore. Yeah, it's a different world. I mean, forget about making fence posts out of your Grandma's Pall Malls! They'd probably bring the old gal up on child endangerment charges, hand her an orange vest and make her pick up trash on the side of the freeway.

Yeah, my advice to parents is buy the kit. You don't want the little tyke rummaging through the nightstand looking for something to tile the roof with.

Kurt "big daddy" True
18 february 2007