To hope..perchance to dream of an empty basement

" Happy Martha Luthin King Junior day mama!"

"Martin Luther King."

"Junior!"

"That's right, Junior...do you know who he was?"

"He had a dream"

what was his dream about?"

"That he could talk to people."

"About what?"

"he talked about Richmond"

"The town?"

"yes."

My first discussion about civil rights with my eight year old...I think it went pretty well.

Dr. King did indeed have a dream. Some think that it has it come to fruition with the election of president Obama . Perhaps, but I think it is only the beginning, that now, the work can really start.

I have dreams for my children as well, and not all of them involve cleaning up after themselves, or putting their laundry away in an ORDERLY fashion. I dream of them growing up to be socially conscious, responsible adults. (Who don't live in my basement.) I dream of them being accepted for who they are and not what they aren't. I dream of them being on their own (far away from my basement)and living successful joyful lives. I dream and I hope...always.

My 10 year old watched the inauguration in school. When he came home, he said to me "mama,I think president Obama is right. We need to all learn how to get along with each other. It's silly for the universe to fight itself." I thought to myself"what a great kid"and after mentally patting myself on the back for obviously having done something right, I said"good thinking buddy!, we should all learn to get along and respect each other and our differences" He looked at me and said "yes, everyone in the universe should work together so we can go and fight other universes."(sigh) O.K., It seems as though I have some more work to do. But in the meantime, I will dream, and I will hope. And perhaps one day, I will have an empty basement.