Conversations with Søren: On Being Rich

Over afternoon tea Mama addresses her eldest son, "Søren, I was so proud of the way you held the door today at church for everyone to come in. You were a gentleman"

Søren, smiling and all proud of himself, "I was a gentleman?!"

Mama answered, "Yes, you were a gentleman."

Søren declares, "I am a gentleman; I will be rich!"

Mama, amused and confused, asks, "You will be rich? What does that have to do with being a gentleman?"

Søren explains, "I will be rich! I will put on red shirts every day!"

At this Mama has a hearty belly laugh as she recalls the conversation from earlier in the morning when Søren, wanting to wear his "Sunday red" like Tiger Woods (who always wears red shirts on the Sunday of a golf tournament) was disappointed when Mama said that she did not want him to wear the same shirt to church every single Sunday (as he has done for the past two months or more, and actually, there are three red shirts, but two of them are not really suitable for the cooler weather). When Søren told her that Tiger did, Mama informed him that Tiger actually wore a different red shirt every Sunday and must have said something about his being able to do so being related to him being rich. Mama remained a little confused about the "gentleman" connection except to assume that at some point she and her husband must have referred to Tiger Woods as a gentleman in some previous conversation.

Søren then grabs bubble wrap and drapes it over his head and tucks his napkin into the top of his shirt (which his brother from across the table quickly imitates) and proclaims, "This is rich! We are rich!" at which Mama was completely confused, but still amused, and the whole table dissolved into giggles amidst the boys declarations of their richness.

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(Aha, Søren just elaborated further that during family movie night - on Friday - we watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie where Laura thinks she has found gold and that the family will be rich. She has a series of dreams about her family being all fancy and rich. We must have said that her Pa looked like a gentleman. That explains the bubble wrap and napkin a bit better than Tiger Woods and his Sunday red - but Tiger must be the only other person Søren has heard us refer to as rich. I love the riddles of trying to follow a 4-yr-old's logic!)