Semper Fi, Moon

Bedtime prayers with Lena have always been sort of a beatnik version of the beattitudes. We start with the standard verse of "now I lay me down to sleep," followed by a roots-to-branches repetition of the immediate friends-and-family tree, followed by a mad-minute of shouts-out and God-blesses to everyone and everything that a 5-year-old warrior princess can bring to heart and mind. As with any oral tradition, the details may change slightly, day by day, but the themes stay true.

By eavesdropping on my child's voice-mail to God, however, I occasionally pick up on some new thoughts. Tonight was the first night, for example, that Lena evoked the United States Marines. I don't think it was because I was going to sneak off downstairs to watch HBO's The Pacific, after everyone else had gone to sleep. My best guess was that she needed something to rhyme--we're working on reading and rhyming skills--with another recent addition to our nightly prayer's refrain. That's just a theory, however.

Here's how tonight's prayer ended:

God bless all our friends and daycare,
and all our teachers at daycare ...

God bless soldiers and sailors,
polar bears and penguins ...

God bless astronauts and Space Shuttles.

God bless marines and ballerinas.

Amen.

Again, I'm not sure where that last line came from. Took me a little by surprise. Still, I'm amused by the sounds of the words, as well as the juxtaposition. Besides, I'm not about to argue with any little girl who loves both Devil Dogs and dancing divas.

Semper Fi, Princess. Sweet dreams.