Today’s blog post is brought to you by the number six. For two reasons.

Johnny celebrated his 6th birthday last week. The kid had a blast tearing open gifts of Legos, Nerf guns, laser guns, and baseball equipment. He also completed his first full week of Kindergarten. And struggles to understand why he has to be in school for 6 hours every day.

Actually, he is in school longer than that. He leaves for the bus at 7:05am and comes blowing through the front door around 2:30pm. But I’m not going to tell him that the situation is more dire than he realizes. Johnny genuinely seems to enjoy Kindergarten. But, every morning, he bemoans the fact that he has another 6 hours of school ahead of him.

By midweek, he had had enough. He stormed into the house one afternoon and yelled for me. Here’s what he told me:

Johnny: “Mom, did you get the announcement from the school?”

Me: “What announcement?”

Johnny: “The announcement about Kindergarten?”

Me: “No.”

Johnny: “Well, you should be getting it soon. Probably in an email.”

Me: “What’s the announcement?”

Johnny: “They are changing the time of Kindergarten.”

Me (suspiciously): “Really? I haven’t heard anything about that.”

Johnny (with boldness): “Yeah, it’s true. We are only going for 3 hours. It’s gonna start soon.”

I checked my email. Checked the school announcements. Made a couple of inquiries. Complete and total fabrication on behalf of my beloved son. But Johnny is convinced the announcement is coming. Honestly, it must be delightful to live in his world. A world of hope that any day now things are going to change.

In case you question the accuracy of my conversational reporting, let me assure my readers that I relay my Johnny interactions with absolute accuracy. I am a good bit Irish, so I tend to have the gift of the gab. And sometimes the art of embellishment. But none of that is necessary with Johnny. Trust me, I couldn’t make this stuff up.

If you have any doubts, I invite you to spend some time with Johnny. Two hours should do it. Just run a couple of errands with him, pick up some drying cleaning or do your weekly shopping. I am currently booking appointments through October.