When you have a child who reads a lot, and that child gets older and
bigger and reads more and more, even if you've been funneling a lot of
books you've read before her way, that child will eventually be reading more than you can keep up with. She will start to
talk about things in books—even books you could have sworn your read thoroughly—you had no idea were there. This can go all
the way from hearing her ask a friend, "What do you think is more
important, boobs or brains?" (for answer, see end of post) to "Do you
remember in American Fried when he has a cold?" And even though I have
read American Fried, I just don't have that kind of memory anymore. "Do
you remember in Hoot how they call him Roy Rogers? Who is Roy Rogers?"
And I'm just trying to keep up. I mean, all if it is just slipping
away, mentally. I know Roy Rogers was a famous cowboy. And then there
was Dale Evans, and Trigger (I just know that part from a Lyle Lovett
song). But was he a real cowboy? Or just in movies? Is there still a
fast food chain named after him? Was he connected with it? How does it
relate to Arby's? And for all the times some part of it comes back to
me: "Yes! The main character's name in Hoot was Roy! And they made fun
of him for being a cowboy!" three other droplets of information slip
away under the door or down cracks in the floor of my brain. And I
just can't keep up. Which in some ways is sort of thrilling for me, to
watch both girls just shine like that, but sheesh!
And least it offers
a perfectly good justification for one of my favorite occupations:
rereading. Which, yes, puts me even further behind.

*Answer: brains. But you knew that, right? And how could I have let her read a book that discussed this without noticing it?