The husband had a Did-You-Know look on his face as we pulled out of the driveway on the way to school. The son was peering at him agog – the kinds of information these fellows find interesting is worth a list one day, but I shall leave it for now.
Ever since YouTube shorts and streaming services made everything from byte-sized to bit-sized I’ve been somewhat helpless at the enthusiasm for these Did-You-Know fests. Typically brain fuzz takes over as all sorts of things are bundled together and dumped my way. This is what it sounds like to me, when presented with facts related to cookies, Poland, lizards, ferns, and the first world war in one shot:
🦎Did you know a lizard can eat three cookies at a time if it suns itself for 4 hours a day?
🪴Did you know that Poland’s alternate timeline means it could have produced hundreds of pteridomaniacs? (before the intelligentsia comes after me with pitchforks, I think that means people who love ferns)
Still, stoic as ever, I said, lowering the car window even as we pulled out. “Just tell us quickly – we’re already late!”
He pointed in triumph to the red lever by the postbox. It was raised like a flag in protest. Upside down. “This is how to position the lever when you want to show that you have mail for the mailman to pick up. So, even if we don’t receive any mail, the postman or postwoman knows to open the mailbox and take the letter for delivery.”
Here’s What It Means When a Red Flag Is Up on a Mailbox – Reader’s Digest
The son looked awed. “Oh I didn’t know that!” The husband swelled with pride at a piece of useful information.
“Me and my friends never knew that when we were little. So, we used to put the lever up on all the mailboxes in our street!”.
The husband and I felt a startled bubble of laughter escape almost simultaneously. Seriously! Children do the darndest things!
I pulled out of the driveway still laughing and asked the fellow whether they just walked about lifting the red levers, and he gave me an offended scoff. “We weren’t that jobless!”
He must’ve seen my face for he said, “Okay we were – but no. We just used to do that as we ran around playing tag. Got to multi-task. That explains why the mailman was sometimes irritated with us huh?” he said, with a meditative glaze in his eyes.
“Yes – glad that was straightened out!”
Nourish-n-Cherish 