As I was taking the girls to school this morning, a traffic report came on the radio, and the town of Sugarland was mentioned.

“Sugarland?!,” Ana said from the backseat. “Is there really a place called Sugarland?”

I confirmed that there is indeed a place called Sugarland, but that, contrary to its name, it’s not covered in sugar mountains and that it’s not a real-life version of Candyland. (I know how she thinks, y’all.)

“Sugarland,” Ana said, despite my explanation, “I think I might like to go there someday. Is it far from Pasadena?”

I told her that it was in the Houston area but not all that close to Pasadena.

“We would have to figure out a way to get there,” she said. “Something that will get us there quickly, even though it’s far away.”

Emma, who had been silent up until this point, offered up, “We could take a jet, Ana!”

“Oh, no,” Ana said. “That would be TOO fast. Jets go so fast that they would blow all your hair off! And then, you would be bald, Emma. Bald in Sugarland!”

After a moment of thinking about this, Emma simply answered with, “Oh.”

And this? This is just a sampling of the kind of conversations I enjoy every morning as I take the girls to school…