Kissing Princess Leia

It was one of those father and son moments that I am certain will stick with me forever. Last night as I drove Zachary home from soccer we were talking about school and what were the "haps" in third grade kidom. He chatted more about recess than anything else but then out of no where Zachary revealed why he likes to read so much. The kid has adopted my love for reading, choosing to do it almost as much as television these days. Anyway, it seems he loves reading especially before he goes to bed because he has figured out that if he concentrates really, really hard that he find himself as part of the story in his dreams at night.

Totally cool observation if I do say so myself.

He asked me if that's why I read so much. Sadly I admitted no. Not sure I could handle having someone like Malcolm Gladwell showing up in my dreams. Scary!

Then he asked..."So Dad, what did you dream about when you were my age?"

I immediately was eight years old again and my thing was Star Wars. I told him without really realizing that I had done exactly what he was doing with his books, I used to think about all the characters and the movies and hope that the movies would magically replay for me in my dreams each night. I was a huge Star Wars fan I can still remember doing this little mind exercise...a lot!

He asked, "So you imagined yourself being Luke Skywalker and battling Darth Vader?"

"No, no probably by the age you are now, I was more likely to be dreaming about kissing Princess Leia."

That was it....for the next ten minutes Zachary was doubled over laughing and recalling my exact words over and over again to his amusement and mine. By the time we turned the corner of our street we were both almost in tears from laughing so hard.

"That's was a good one dad," he said as he grabbed his gear and climbed out of the back of my Explorer. "But I bet now, you dream of being a famous author don't you?"

I stopped in the middle of the garage.

"You been reading my dreams haven't you?" A big smile sheepishly washed over his face.

"We'll no, but I just know how big you are going to be because your Steve Harper" he proudly exclaimed. "And then when you get big and famous maybe that girl that played Princess Leia will know you and want to kiss you," to which he started busting up again and walked inside.

"Maybe," I quietly said to myself. Maybe.