the dinner question of the night was: "aside from food, what is the one thing in your life you can't live without?"

almost before i even finished the sentence, anthony yelled out "oxygen". i elaborated, saying that aside from all the things your body physically requires for life.

after a few beats, alex responded with, shockingly, "education". of our three children he is the one i would have said was least likely to proffer this answer but he missed nary a beat in his response. i think his answer might have been driven by a conversation i had with the boys the prior weekend. we talked about how the better your mind and discipline and expertise at whatever craft you choose to master, the more opportunities you would have in life. this conversation began after one of the boys asked the car (we were driving back from a day at my dad's house in the country) if it was true that mcdonalds was open 24 hours a day. they asked this in a tone that said they must have seen the sign wrong. i told them that some mcdonalds were open 24 hours a day. marty would have been proud to listen to her 12 and 9 year old talk between themselves about how hard that would make it to be healthy because it would mean you couldn't go to bed on time and how it would make you tired and sick and be full of bad choices.

after they talked it out, i added that the crazy thing is there are millions of people who would love to have that job but wouldn't be qualified for it. this comment is what led to the importance of not only obtaining your base education but then also being capable, competent, reliable, conscientious, easy to work with and someone who communicates well and is deemed a ready resource. that arrow obviously found its mark in alex.

marty and bella answered in near unison. bella said family. marty said love.

were i truthful i would have to confess to being slightly disappointed in my family. because of their insightful and astute responses, i didn't get to bust out my canned lecture on why x-box and binging on netflix were not acceptable answers. i mean i was geared up and ready for a fierce debate and my family totally failed to fall into my learning trap with their mature responses. i guess i'll have to use my canned speech on some unsuspecting passer-by. lucky them.