When my son was 2.5 yo, we moved to Pinehurst. We went to see my parents pretty frequently on the weekends and this meant driving west on I-40 in the evening on Friday afternoons.

On one trip, he was fussing about the sun being in his eyes. Said, “Make the sun go down, Mom. It hurts my eyes.” I tried adjusting the shade, but he was the bad height, too short AND too tall for the shade to be effective. I said “Honey, I can’t make th sun go down.” He said “Sure you can. You can do anything.”

How could I disappoint him?

So, I said, “Put your head down here (on my thigh) and I’ll do what I can. (I checked the distance from sun to horizon) It’s gonna take about 30 minutes.” He said, “Why’s it gonna take so long? I said, “The sun is very heavy and it takes a lot to move it. Gimme about half an hour and it’ll be down.” He said, “OK.” and put his head down.

A couple of weeks later, we were going back.

He said “Mom! The sun is in my eyes again!” I said,”OK. Put your head down again and I’ll see what I can do. This time it’s gonna take a little longer.” He said, “Why’s it gonna take longer?” I said, “It’s daylight savings time. The sun is higher in the sky so it is going to take me longer to get it down.” He said “OK.” and put his head on my thigh, again.

So we got there and my sister was visiting, too.

Saturday, he was buzzing around the house and he threw himself on my lap, gave me a squeeze and said, “I love you, Momma!” and buzzed off.

My sister, Amanda said, “I wish somebody loved me that much. He thinks you are the best thing in the world.”

I said, “He thinks I make the sun rise and set.”

She said,”THAT might be a little extreme.”

I said,”ASK him.”

So she hollered for him and he buzzed back in the room.

“What?”

“Who makes the sun come up and go down?”

“My MOMMA!”

And he buzzed back off.

She said “You are so going to Hell for teaching him that.”

I laughed until I cried.