Sometimes I wish I had a rolling video tape of our dinner conversations. Not because I am so particularly bright or insightful but because our children are. I know; it’s shameless pride in our kids but indulge me.

If I had a tape to share, you would hear the chatter among our girls and South African friends Jake and Josh about their differing travel experiences. In Jerusalem, you would hear Lauren’s discussion with Leon questioning our obsession with the after-life and asking, “Do you think about the before life? Like, what was it like before you were born? Why isn’t anyone talking about that? Because its nothing.”

In Copenhagen, the conversation with Joan and Joel about history and whether it ought to inform our decisions. As Joel said, “I spend my mornings studying dead people.” (He goes to shul each morning). But for our girls, the history’s lessons are not so readily apparent. They want to know which history? From whose perspective? The Torah? The scientists? The New York Times? Textbooks (California’s is admittedly bad) or travel?

And in Scotland last night our dinner conversation with Mom and Doug about California’s drought, recent studies on the irreversible decline of the polar ice sheets and the impacts of human behavior on global warming, or the preferred terminology: climate change. Rose wants us to trade our car for a solar powered version and loved the London Eye at sunset until she saw London’s buildings light up their facades. Such waste.

I’m bragging. I’ll stop.