{"id":673,"date":"2012-06-11T02:41:57","date_gmt":"2012-06-11T02:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/?p=673"},"modified":"2012-06-11T02:41:57","modified_gmt":"2012-06-11T02:41:57","slug":"true-believers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/?p=673","title":{"rendered":"True Believers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cMommy,\u00a0are Transformers\u00a0real?\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s Sunday morning, and I\u2019m sitting in church with my two boys \u2013 who are quietly saying thank you to God for all their many blessings while at the same time battling with their action heroes \u2013 when my oldest begins whispering.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo fish go to fish heaven when they die?\u201d Yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre The Avengers real?\u201d No, they\u2019re just a story.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Optimus Prime real?\u201d No, he\u2019s just a story.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Jesus real?\u201d Yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs God real?\u201d Yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Santa real?\u201d<\/p>\n

Whoa. Ok, I\u2019m\u00a0happy he wants to know. There are many children who can\u2019t tell the difference between what’s real and what isn’t, and I\u2019m glad my son appreciates that what he sees on TV is often just a story, even if it\u2019s been convincingly acted out.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very happy to clarify which things are true and which things are fantastical, and he\u2019s happy to accept those facts. I mean, who really wants to live in a world where some creepy demi-god in\u00a0a ridiculous cape\u00a0can enter our dimension through a portal in the sky and start blowing up New York City? Not me, thanks, nor my oldest son.<\/p>\n

But Santa? Now we\u2019re picking at the fundamental fabric of childhood. To believe in Santa is to believe that, even on your darkest day, you have something to hope for. Santa is the reason to Be Good, the one person who makes the world just a little bit magical, a super cool guy who always seems to know EXACTLY what you want.<\/p>\n

But when my son looks me in the eye and asks me the powerful question at point blank range \u2013 with the full trust that I know almost everything \u2013 it seems wrong to lie. I\u2019ve always known this day would come, so I decide to take the mythical bulls by his horns.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, honey,\u201d I whisper. \u201cSanta is just a story.\u201d<\/p>\n

His mouth falls open and he stares into the distance. It\u2019s as if he\u2019s just been given the knowledge of good and evil. Right before my eyes, his universe slowly shifts off course and into a direction he can\u2019t have imagined existed.<\/p>\n

If Santa is just a story, his big blue eyes say, well, this changes everything. Who wants to live in a world without Santa? Not me, thanks, nor my son. He\u2019s making exactly the same expression I would make if all six of the actual Avengers\u00a0dropped out of the sky and landed in the pew beside me.<\/p>\n

My answer is so dangerous that he has to ask again \u2013 we are in church, after all, and whispering, so perhaps I didn\u2019t hear him properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Mommy \u2013 is SANTA real?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the literal moment of truth. And I bail.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. Santa is real.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a huge sigh of relief, the furrow in his brow lies flat and once again the world makes sense. Guess I can kill Santa another day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMommy,\u00a0are Transformers\u00a0real?\u201d It’s Sunday morning, and I\u2019m sitting in church with my two boys \u2013 who are quietly saying thank you to God for all their many blessings while at the same time battling with their action heroes \u2013 when … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[42,227],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=673"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":685,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions\/685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.laurafulton.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}