Tales from the Carpool Lane

I've picked up a little side job recently, helping out one of our friends by taking her son to school in the mornings. He's 9, and a super sweet kid, but the question remained: what do you talk about when trying to make conversation with a shy 9 year old boy?

Ryan gave me some hints of things he might like to discuss, and I did try, but conversations were awkward and usually fizzled out pretty quickly. We would arrive at school each day, and I'd sip on coffee in the carpool lane while I waited to let him out next to the school. {So far I haven't shown up in my jammies or bathrobe, so I feel I haven't truly lived up to the hype I've heard about with such adventures, but the year is young. Give me time.}

Anyway.

Yesterday we were en route to school again and I found myself at a complete loss. Our conversation the day before, regarding his love for Legos, had taken the entire trip to school, but I wasn't sure Lego talk could last forever.

And that's when I uncovered it.

The golden topic.

Pokemon Go.

He brought it up when trying to explain to me some statue he knew about that was apparently close to our route, and he said what he thought would obviously seal it for me: "You know, like for Pokemon!"

I was simultaneously thrilled and petrified.

Thrilled because I knew I had found the winning topic. Petrified because I know nothing about it. Not just nothing. Negative nothing.

I tried to ask questions that would make me sound somewhat intelligent without giving away my utter ignorance. {Because he's a smart kid...he can smell ignorance a mile away.}

He told me all his favorite places and something about a team, and it was clear he thought I had some sort of baseline knowledge about all this. My baseline knowledge was to sip my coffee a little faster and hope for the best.

I have never played Pokemon Go, I have no desire to play it, and I sort of figured I would go through life without ever knowing one single thing regarding it. But if it means finally making a connection in the carpool line, I'll do my homework and learn enough to carry on an intelligent conversation.

This was my favorite part so far. He said something about playing it in the car when his mom brought him home every day. Now the one thing I had heard about this game was that it did at least force people to become more active, since they walked to find whatever they were finding. The car thing threw me for a loop.

"So you can play it in the car?" {I meant as opposed to only on foot.}

He said, "Well yeah, but not if you're driving!"

Trust me. No danger. :)

Looking forward to more tales from the carpool lane. Should be a fun year!