Galileo

Sometimes, when we drive home from the gym in the evening, we sing to M in an effort to get her to sleep before we arrive home. Our odds are generally 50/50-- she's never been a good car sleeper, but sometimes luck and exhaustion are on our side and we get to skip the increasingly intricate bedtime routine of bathroom trips, lost toys, extra sips of water, chapter books and, of course, more singing. Last night, on the drive, M requested a "sleepy song" and we happily obliged. Julie and I launched into a car rendition of The Indigo Girls, "Galileo"... but we barely made it past, "...as the bombshells of my daily fears explode/I try to trace them to my youth," when Em, from the dark of the backseat exclaimed, "Woah...woah... woah, guys. That song doesn't make any sense. Why was his head on the block? Who was Galileo?" And so we did what any 'ol parents of a preschooler would do and launched into an explanation of heliocentric vs geocentic theories, beheadings, the inquisition and the Catholic Church and the difference between jail and house arrest. When we were all satisfied that M had a pretty good understanding of Galileo's crimes and the Catholic Church's response to his theory (including his eventual 1992 pardoning postmortem) M asked that we start singing it again. From the beginning.

And so we did.

"How long 'til my soul gets it right?/ Can any human being ever reach the highest light?/I call on the resting soul of Galileo/ king of night vision, king of insight"

And again from the backseat- "Wait, wait, wait, guys. I have one more question. Why does she call him a king of inside?"

"Not inside, M. Insight."

"What's insight?"

"An ability to see and understand things in a way that other people may not- just like Galileo was able to see and understand that the Sun was in the middle of the solar system, even when others couldn't, she's asking his soul, or spirit, to come and help her understand things that she doesn't understand yet. She's asking his spirit for help."

"Oh. Ok. Keep singing."

It only seemed appropriate to follow it up with The Indigo Girl's "Ghost."