Most of you know that LightGirl is obsessed with hockey. Those of you who talk to her at church or on the phone know that she speaks of little else these days. One morning recently she asked her father, “Dad, what do you dream of?” His reply, “That today you’ll talk about something other than hockey.” Tonight is the last (I’m breathing a sigh of relief) game of the Stanley Cup finals. The hockey obsession will not be over as she is going to hockey camp next week, but the games in the evening will be over.

There is another obsession on the horizon. We didn’t see this one coming. It began innocently enough. We even gave it unknowing encouragement. LightBoy picked up a book, War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. He read it in two days. As he read it he told us every detail. Then he began drawing pictures of the Martians. There are pictures of Martians, UFOs, and other assorted space vehicles scattered throughout the house. Today he assembled a Martian Attractor 2000 and ran around outside with it. It involved a coat hangar, a belt, and some other paraphanalia. He came back inside disgruntled that it “hadn’t worked.” He refused to accept the fact that Martians are fantasy creatures for an answer.

When we sit at dinner LightGirl talks hockey, Lightboy responds with Martians. It’s very confusing. On the other hand, I see the potential for a research project for LightBoy looming … Mars makes a good topic I think.