'jai guru deva om..'

Yesterday afternoon, on a quest for groceries and pharmaceutical treasures, the boys and I piled into the mini and made haste to the welcoming arms of Target, that economic lover who embraces me warmly after every digression I make to Walmart.

I love you, Target. You and me forever, baby.

Anyway, the boys and I had just completed what can only be described as some stellar club worthy dancing to a little Information Society (goodness, I love me some of this song)) and then settled into a nice slow drift into transcendental happiness when the Beatles brought some calm back to the situation. I'm settled in, enjoying the quiet and the song, dodging traffic (wow, I do not miss driving in that every day) and the boys are acting as my navigators, alerting me to approaching roadway dangers when I made some off the cuff remark about the number of people out and about Thursday morning.

"Mama, there's just too much people in this world," my youngest replies.

And my heart warmed, because for a moment, I flashed on this truly intuitive five year old and thought about all he could accomplish in his life as some great sociologist or scientist dedicated to the efforts of making this world a more sustainable place for the growing populace.

I turned to smile at him, to agree, in time to catch him bopping his older brother in the head with his tiny little fist just as John Lennon gave me his final thoughts on his unchanged world and my thoughts were swapped out. From the looks of things, I wasn't - at that moment, anway - raising a boy who is so concerned with the world's population that he intends to grow up and create complex water purification systems or sustainable crop techniques to help his growing world.

No. What I've got going on is a little boy who intends to claw his way to the top of the world by any means necessary. First rung on his ladder is his unsuspecting older brother.

I suspect world domination may have taken place in the back of the mini before we'd ever reached Target's parking lot. However, before he could fully claim his rights, this charming little boy made his first decree by asking me to turn up the volume, for it was time to dance again.

And sadly, all those people in the world - at least those driving around us yesterday afternoon - witnessed us dancing in the mini again. Club mix. We're a pretty pathetic bunch.

For the time being, the world's probably safe. The kid's pretty happy just ruling the backseat.