Defending the indefensible (and a happy announcement)

"I made my English class laugh today."  I sat up, taking notice, for this startling announcement had come from a most unlikely source, Boy Three, He Who Preferred To Dwell In The Shadows.  While Boy Two (a.k.a. Kid Kaboom) lived for the spotlight and stage, not so this one, my non-emotive, third-born son.

Why, it was only Sunday last that I'd seen him sport three new shades of red, squirming in discomfort upon receiving unwanted attention from an adult he didn't know.  And now this?

"What did you do?" I asked, truly curious.

"Well," he said, smile cracking edges of lips, "we had to write a letter, and my table made me write it."  They'd been given a list, he said, of supposedly indefensible things.  Choosing one, they were to write a persuasive essay in its defense.  His group had chosen "police taking driver's licenses away from slow drivers."

Here is what he wrote:  "Imagine it - being late to school or work because of a slow driver.  Then you're late repeatedly and get fired.  Since you got fired, you can't pay your bills, so you get evicted and then you're out on the freeway!

"There is a solution to this madness, and that is taking away the slow driver's license.  Five out of 10 drivers (his source here is unclear) are slow.

"What if you have kids?  How will you provide for them if you are jobless?  So if you get the police to take their license, none of this has to happen."

And then a final plea. "Please.  Do this for the children."

My shy, laid-back, quiet son read this aloud to his class, all of whom are fully used to his introverted persona. All of whom burst into applause, laughing loudly and cheering.  The teacher, laughing, too, said, "You should consider trying out for the musical.  Have you thought about being on stage?"

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised when traces of creativity appear in the children.  After all, their up-line (and I mean way up past me) is quite prolific in that department, and their father is no slouch himself.

And like it or not, they get words - lots of words - from their mother who is just that happy to announce that some of her own are appearing today in her hometown paper, The Hutch News, the paper she's prayed for years to get.  Today, this week's "Grounds for Insanity" column, "Rock-solid memories of the prairie," is live in Hutch.  I'd be tickled clear pink if you'd visit me over there.  Thanking you in advance...

And if you'd pray for favor on my behalf; for mountains to move; for doors to open; for a great, big 'yes;' and join me in seeing miracles...