Operator? Any one There?

Olaf and I went on a date tonight. It's rare, but always wonderful. I always thought when the kids got older and could babysit themselves we'd get to go out more. Not so, now we have to watch them even more and we can't really get a babysitter. What 12 or 13 year old girl wants to watch an 11 year old boy? Let me rephrase that: What girl do I want watching my prepubescent son? This can only go in the wrong direction! So a date tonight was nice. I called home to make sure the boys had fed themselves. Despite my best intentions they are growing into men already. Middle Child answered his phone in one of his rare (maybe not so rare) moments.

"Who is this?"

"Hi, it's Mom. Have you guys eaten dinner?"

"May I ask who is calling?"

"Your mother is calling. Did you eat yet?"

"This is an 80-year-old operator and my mother is dead. I don't think you're calling from the grave. Who would you like to be connected to? I can connect you to anyone on the planet."

I didn't know what he was talking about. He's 11, not 80. I tried again, "It's Mom, did you fix yourselves something to eat yet?"

"I am an 80-year-old operator. I can connect you to anyone on the planet."

I realized this was a game. I decided to play along cuz it was kinda silly, "I am looking for CRH."

"Let me look. There is only one CRH in the world. He lives in Spanish Fork."

"Great! Do you think he's eaten dinner?" in hopes that the charade had gone far enough to satisfy the boy. But no. We are not done!

"I don't know if he's eaten dinner. Let me connect you."

Then I was entertained for 30 seconds of Middle Child making fuzz noises while we were 'connected.'

"Hi."

"Hi, Middle Child. That was so nice of the operator to connect us."

"What operator?"

"You know, whatever. Did you guys eat anything yet?"

"Yes we did."

"Great that's all I wanted. See you soon!"

Not for one moment did the child break out of character.