Early language experience

I remember being a kid and bumbing along on some family vacation or another. My brothers and I were distractedly unsticking ourselves from the red vinyl in the back seat of our '86 ford pickup, while my parents were in the front seat discussing the music of the Beatles. I was very confused about the whole conversation: beetles making music? My experience with beetles up to that point had led me to believe that such tiny, curious creatures could not make music, let alone sing songs like "Can't Buy Me Love" or "Here Comes the Sun." I thought that my father was perhaps trying to tease me, so I insisted rather adamantly, "The beetles didn't sing those songs!" And when he replied to the contrary I remember shouting at him, "But bugs don't sing!" This evoked a roar of laughter from both of my parents. I was quite abashed once they explained to me that "The Beatles" were a rock band. Being proven a fool is tough, even when it's just in front of your parents, and even when your only six.

In that moment, the world became just a little more confusing than I had planned on it being. And aren't those the times we remember most in our lives?