Poignant moment somewhere around last Halloween, I think…Colin, then 4 1/2, got really fascinated with bald eagles for a few weeks--this is what he does, fasten onto a topic and suck it dry, saturating himself in it. Anyway, I showed him lots of clips on YouTube, while trying to explain the difficult, abstract concept of symbolism—i.e., why the bald eagle is particularly important, and to us as Americans specifically. Try explaining patriotism to a four year old!

We found a video of an eagle named Challenger, with the schmaltziest, cheesiest patriotic song I have ever heard about “When Challenger Flies”— I mean seriously, it had me gagging and rolling my eyes—and on the fourth or fifth straight playback when I thought I was going to truly hurl, I look over at my little boy and realized that he had tears in his eyes. He really didn’t know what to do with such a big emotion, and had to have a little cry fest for a minute, saying he felt “sad”…but how stunning when I realized that, no matter how lame I thought it was, this experience of being moved by music, of being uplifted, impassioned, stirred up, was, for him, brand new. What a wonder that I got to see that moment, and could put aside my jaded cynicism for a while, and maybe guide him through that a little bit. What an honor. And what a magical child to feel, so deeply, so young...he staggers me.