Questions we’d all like the answers to (Dateline September 2005)

Kids are fun. They have to be or they’d get thrown out when you get tired of playing with them. I love the way they think – very literal minded. My daughter Annelise (7 going on 23) always finds time to ask interesting questions. My favorite is “Who is Mississippi?

The latest question came, as usual, at the dinner table. We eat family style, so the food is brought to the table and we just serve it out. This particular night it was spaghetti with meatballs. My husband was doing the serving, and the kids were patiently waiting their turn (ok, ok, they were nagging him to go faster, where was their fork, someone spit at them, and there weren’t enough napkins…but this is my story and I can tell it anyway I want). In between telling the kids to be quiet and sit nicely (read – shut up and sit down or your dinner is going to the cat), Annelise pops up with “Why are spaghetti noodles tangled?”

Dave, dear husband, father and head of household (at least while I’m at work) gives Annelise a really good answer to the question…noodles stick because he forgot to add oil to the water and didn’t have time to lay them out in a straight line, like he’d been taught in Marine Corps boot camp. Ok, she said. Good enough for a nights work. More noodles, hold the meat, and is there dessert?

But for some reason the question just stuck in my mind and I got to thinking that that’s a pretty good question…why had I never noticed that spaghetti noodles were all tangled up? So, I decided (once again, dear audience) to collect questions we’d all like the answer to. Send your replies on a post card to Annelise, c/o Buckley, MI…I’m sure she’d like to hear from you.

1) Why are spaghetti noodles all tangled up?

2) What is a “live bottom system?” (I keep seeing this on the back of massive 18-wheelers that never go faster than 20 mph below the speed limit).

3) Why am I broke all the time?

4) Where do clouds go when it’s dark outside?

5) Where else do babies come from? (Besides China and Taiwan?)

6) What is “The palm at the end of the mind? (Wallace Stevens)

7) Why can’t God be more specific?

I’m sure there are other questions you’d like to have the answer to. Send your questions (and answers) to me and let’s see where we end up. I’m sure Annelise would love to know about the spaghetti (and I’m still wondering what a “live bottom system” is…shades of horror movies!)