Ah, Boys

The scene: In the third row seat of the car with my oldest son
The time: 7:00 PM
The destination: Dinner at a local Mexican restaurant with the whole family

“Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Can eyes just pop out?”
An interesting worry for a six year old. I think he’s been watching too much Tom and Jerry.
“Not generally, sweetie no.”
“But they can pop out, right?” he reemphasizes.
“Yes, they can. But it wouldn’t be good.”
“How?”
“How what?”
“How would they pop out? I mean what would happen to make them pop out?”
This is one of those moments when a parent debates just how age appropriate some information is.
“Usually if something bad happened, like a car accident or illness or injury,” I answer hoping this will end the conversation. But, it’s easier to beat around the bush with corporate colleagues than my kids.
“If one of my eyes popped out, would I still see with the other eye?” he asks blissfully unaware of the parental heart palpitations this image is causing. I know it’s not the worse thing in the world but hey, I don’t like to see my kids get slivers or hang nails let alone think of them with a glass eye.
“Yes, probably,” I manage to answer.
“Would my eye pop out if I got stabbed?”
I blink, where is the world does he get this stuff? To the best of my knowledge, we’ve never even used the word ‘stabbed’ in our household.
“Um, maybe. I guess it would depend on how deep you were stabbed or how serious the injury.”
He’s quiet for a few seconds and I think I might be off the hook. Wrong.
“So, if my eye popped out, would that string thing, you know the one that holds my eye in my head? Would that still be attached to both my eye and my head?”
Oh, god. The image of all those cartoon characters with their eyes popping out of their heads, hanging on by a string flash before me. Only it’s my son’s face. My son's eyes.
“Honey, this conversation is kind of gross and we’re on the way to dinner. Can we talk about something else?” My fingers are crossed.
“Oh, sorry. Sure,” he responds easily. He’s distractible, like most young kids, but he’s also one of the most empathetic kids I know for which I am extremely grateful at the moment.
Ten seconds pass in silence. And then…
“Mom, if I got shot in the eye, would I die?”