I was reading Alice a bedtime book about Jupiter, and we were on the section about its moons. I love how Alice will talk in all seriousness about which moon she plans to visit. She likes Callisto, the "old sparkly one" but has no desire to go to Io because it has too many volcanoes. She thought it was hilarious how the surface of Io was described as looking like a cheese pizza. We were having a great conversation about how Alice could develop a spacecraft to go to Jupiter's moon Europa and discover what's under the ice and if there's life there. She first suggested there would probably be sharks, but then conceded that there would maybe just be coral. At some point in this conversation, Alice declared, "I'm going to be a scientist when I grow up."
I said, "That's a great idea."
"Will you work with me?"
I hesitated, remembering how science was always my toughest subject. "Sure," I said. "I'll ask questions and you can figure out the answers."
Alice pondered this for a moment, and then said, "Actually, mom, I think you're going to be in the cemetery by then."
I burst out laughing, which made her embarrassed, so then she said she was just kidding, and I said I planned to be alive for a long time.
