Clearly, I would not be missed.

"Hey, Mama? If you had a job like Amah and Grandad [who are both university professors] and got to take sabbaticals like they do, and you had to go away for a whoooooooole year and leave us here with Daddy who plays us bad music and would have to take us in to work with him every day and make macaroni and cheese like he did that time you had to go to Chicago -- that'd be fine."

I'm not sure what she finds appealing about this scenario, but I think it may actually be the macaroni and cheese.

I said, "But Molly, if I went away for a whole year, I would miss you."

"But Daddy could send you letters and tell you everything we did that day! I could even remind him."

"What would you do at work all day with Daddy?"

"I'd play. The time he took me, he brought along markers for me to draw with. And I brought my baby dolls." (This happened when Molly was three, if you're wondering -- over two years ago.)

I told her that when I was a kid, and my father went on sabbaticals, he took us all with him. She seemed deeply skeptical. Unlike the people who regard a sabbatical as a year-long vacation, Molly clearly views it as hard, gruelling work during which one would clearly not have time to properly take care of two little kids. Much better to tag along to the office with the other parent.