I figured he'd turn into a buffalo

Will and I have interesting conversations on a regular basis.  The 5-yr old brain is always thinking, pondering, analzying, and strategizing.  But today, he and I had a brief conversation that now I can't relate to anyone without laughing out loud so it must be blog material, right?

Background:  We are walking down a path to meet relatives at a lake in Denver.  Glenn stayed in Cheyenne for the weekend.  I'm not sure if that has any relevance to the story or not.

Will:  "Mom, it's okay, I know that Dad is going to turn into a fish someday."  (Note:  Will uses the "Mom, it's okay I know...." preface to let me know that he already knows some bad news, like "Mom, it's okay I know today is a school day" or "Mom, it's okay, I know we aren't having pancakes for dinner.) 

Me:  (Thinking "Huh? Because he fishes a lot?  Because he eats a lot of fish?")  What I said:  "Buddy, why do you think Daddy is going to turn into a fish someday?" 

Will:  "Because he eats fish food." 

Me:  (Thinking "Huh?  Will clearly has sunstroke!?")  What I said:  "Will, why do you think Daddy is eating fish food?"

Will:  "Because he has that medicine with a picture of a fish on the bottle." 

Me:  "Ohhhhhhhhhh!  Will, that's just a special kind of vitamin made out of fish oil.  It's not fish food.  Daddy's not going to turn into a fish. People don't turn into fishes." 

Will:  Okay.  Good. 

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This story has made me giggle all day but also feel a pang for the little boy who's walking around resigned to the fact that his dad is just going to turn into a fish someday.  Will has definitely been more anxious in the last few months.Some of that we chalk up to developmental stages (heading to kindergarten, etc.), but we know now that he was also more concerned about Glenn and the whole hospitalization thing than we realized at the time.  Everything was so chaotic and a little scary and I didn't know what to tell him and probably didn't tell him enough.  So now we pay more attention to what we talk about around him and we also talk about more stuff with him when questions do come up.  Will comes from a long line of worriers, ponderers and over-analyzers, on both sides of the family.  When I was a few years older than Will, I remember going to a barbecue where the host was cooking hamburgers over mesquite.  I thought mesquite was the same thing as marijuana and I was worried that we were all going to get in trouble for eating the burgers.  I could picture policeman surrounding the house and hauling everyone away.  I remember my perplexed parents finally explaining that there was nothing illegal about mesquite.  I have no idea how I even knew what marijuana was.  Blame Magnum P.I.  Anyway, even I'm pretty sure that I can guarantee to Will that Glenn will never turn into a fish.  Unless the Buddhists have it right about that whole reincarnation thing.