A few weeks ago, Monte decided after several months and one move to get the telescope out and aim it at the sky. We have a pretty nice telescope. I mean, it's not going to put Kitt Peak or Hubble out of business or anything, but it's something you assemble and can hook your computer up to for star location, so it's a little more involved than one of those pirate eye pieces you see on the television.
The kids were excited, because they were outside in the twilight in their pajamas trying to see well enough by the street light to make chalk drawings on the driveway or challenge each other to run the length of our sidewalk in their bare feet.
So when Monte called the boys over to take a detailed look at the moon's craters, there was a general reluctance from the under twelve set to quit what they were doing and go over and see. That's when I decided they needed to respect the effort it takes to put the silly telescope together, and be more appreciative and aware of the real reason they were outside past bedtime.
"Boys!" I said. "Get over here and look at this beautiful moon! You should be more thankful for the things daddy does for you. After all, when I was a little girl, we didn't have telescopes!"
Considering Galileo had one, that makes me really really old. Of course, then I had to backpedal and explain that I meant our family didn't own its own personal telescope, but by then the damage had been done and the the jokes were flying.
I think what I should have said was, when I was a little girl our school didn't have an astronomy department. Or computers.
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