Vincent and I had a nice, smooth ten-hour drive from Ohio to New York. Cops were everywhere, but fortunately they were racial profiling so when I sped by doing 80, rocking to the 70s in my mom car, they waved me by. I made that part up. They would never racial profile.
This is our first road trip together, Vincent and I. He sat in the front of the Fit with the airbag off and described in great detail a cannon he and some boys on the school playground built out of ice and snow.
He told me that between second and third grade his sense of humor changed and John, his good friend from second grade, didn’t know what to make of the new, “random” Vincent.
My favorite thing he said was that he doesn’t want to be cool or hang out with the cool kids, even though it means letting go of friends like John. “I want to be my own person and have people like me for my personality.”
Then he went back to listening to The Hobbit on his iPod while opening The Hobbit book to the maps and imagining where they might be on the map at that part in the story.
Today we’ll go see the Schuyler Mansion. He is very proud that he is related to General Philip Schuyler. We saw the mansion two summers ago but he wants to see the grave this time. He is hoping there’s a mausoleum and we can go inside. I would love to have a seat inside the movie theatre in his mind to see what he imagines he’d see on the inside of a mausoleum.
When he was three his hero was George Washington. He asked to go visit his grave so he could dig him up to find out if his teeth were really wood. He wants to meet all his heroes.
We were sitting on a curb, watching a parade go by in Columbus. Batman was in the parade walking alongside Captain America. Vincent jumped up from the curb, gripping my arm. “Get Batman’s phone number, Mom! Invite him over!”
I’m hoping Philip Schuyler just has a tombstone. No mausoleum where Vincent might be tempted to pry open a tomb, as if we’d even get inside.
“Only family is allowed in the mausoleum.” I told him.
“But we’re family.”
We’ll bring some thin poster paper and a crayon and make a rubbing for Vincent’s bedroom wall.
I wonder where he gets his fascination with the dead?
Subscribe to the
RSS feed or 
Email Updates.Help us promote this article by bookmarking it to your favorite social network via an icon below:
your son is awesome.
Great trip. I love to do things like this (with my kids even though they are so young). Sophia loved Mount Vernon – we walked by the tomb. But her favorite dead people are mummies. She loved the museum of natural history because she could see them and the “stuff” they are put in the tomb with. Jewels and toys when you die! She thinks it is great.
Hey Amy
What a wonderful thing to do, a road trip together. Your son sounds like a grounded, smart kid. Loving the fact that he’s willing to stand up and be himself and that he’s prepared for the consequences, like losing his friend John.
No wonder he’s akin to these other figures who stood out from the crowd and remained true to themselves. Sure you couldn’t miss Batman in the cape and tights, could you! Go Batman and Go Vincent I say.
maybe he likes the dead heroes because they’ve already made the cut –they’re interesting, and, well, heroic.
Sounds like you have a serious history buff on your hands. Your sons always amaze me, with their magnificent, creative brains. Love it.
What a fun trip and what an interesting kid. They are so amazing at that age. Their personalities really coming out. With his interest in historic figures, maybe he’ll be a museum curator or the like!
good idea…i need to do somthing like this…
have a greatt weekend…
What fun! I need to do something like that. Take each kid, one on one, to someplace they’d love to go. Okay, that’s a goal for this school year.
And don’t you love to watch them change.
As always, my dear, you totally made me smile. I love reading your blog.
(laugh) Hmmm…. I wonder! Is there going to be a part III to the dead lady dream? Maybe Philip Schuyler will be in it this time… or Washington. Batman would be awesome!
I wonder! Hmmm. Your son sounds very cool, actually cool, not Cool Kids At School cool. I have four boys, three of which are old enough to be like that and I imagine all the time what interesting lives they will lead. They fascinate me.