Will we miss each other?

In the car this morning, the kids were talking about school. "When we're six we'll be in kindergarten. And then what?"

"Then when you're seven you'll go to first grade and when you're eight you'll go to second grade and then third and fourth and fifth."

"And then high school?"

"Not quite. After fifth grade you go to middle school and that'd sixth, seventh, and eighth grade and THEN you go to high school."

"And then college. And college is the last school."

And then someone asked how long college was.  I explained that it can vary - I was in college for about four years, Uncle was in college longer.

Caroline wants to just be in college for four years.

I explained sometimes it depends what you want to do for a job after college.  If you want to be a teacher, usually you have to go to college for four or five years.  If you want to be a doctor, you might have to go for eight or nine years.  If you want to be a lawyer, you might go for seven.

Caroline decided at this point that she wants to be a teacher like me.  Max heard "lawyer" and said that's what he wants to do, though with his peculiar pronunciation, he might've been expressing a desire to follow in Steph Curry's footsteps as a "Warrior", too.

But the most interesting part was that just seconds after Max said he wanted to be a lawyer and Caroline said she wanted to be a teacher (not just a teacher, but a "Spanish teacher like Mommy"), Max asked, "Are we going to miss each other?"

I said they might, if they end up going to different colleges.  And immediately Max changed his tune.  He now thinks they should all choose the same careers, "so we don't miss each other."

And so Caroline decided they should all be teachers.  She will teach Spanish and Max will teach sign language.  Daniel said he wants to be "the kind of teacher that Uncle is, who helps the kids at school."  When it was explained to Caroline that Uncle helps the kids who have a really hard time at school, she was pretty clear she didn't want to do that job.

I plan to save this story for some point ten years from now when they absolutely cannot stand the sight of each other.