When We Eat Banana Pudding

When we eat banana pudding
We know we're about to hear
About who doesn't exist

Mom sits us down
Makes us banana pudding
And explains to us
That Granda
Does not exist

'But we SEE him!'
'Do you, children? Do you really?'

This is the third time
She's told us
Somebody we love
Isn't real

'Auntie Michelle isn't real.'
'But there are photos of her!'
'But have ever actually met her?'
'She lives in Taiwan!'
'We just told you that because we didn't want to ruin your innocence.'
'But we get presents from her. Wait a minute, does that mean Santa's not real?'
'Hahahahaha--of course Santa is real! What kind of monsters do you think we are?'

Santa is real
But the mailman is not
Even though we HAVE seen him

If we had to choose
I guess we'd prefer Santa
Over Auntie Michelle
Since she only sends one present
And Santa sends like twenty

'Is the Easter Bunny real?'
'Yes.'
'Mr. Pete across the street?'
'No.'
'Tooth Fairy?'
'Yes.'
'Miley?'
'She's the opposite of real. She's beyond unreal. She's sub-real. She's below reality.'

What does that even mean?

We don't understand

But we enjoy the banana pudding

'Mom, why did you make up people for us to love?'

And this is where Mom eskimo kisses us
And says to us--

'Because you kids have so much love in you, sometimes adults run out of real places to put it.'

We lick the banana pudding
Off the front and back of the spoon
And ask--

'Do you have less love than we do?'

Our mom thinks about this

'Yes, we do have less love, but all the love we have goes right to you.'

But we don't know about this
Because now we know
That adults make up grandparents
And mailmen
And pop sensations

'How do we know you're not lying,' we ask

And our mom laughs and says--

'You don't'

But even though we know what we now know
We kinda know
She isn't

Because we can taste the love
Even on the back of our spoon