Oh, my darling Clementine

Hey Wavy,

I remember this song being in our grade school songbook. We sang it in music class many times, along with "16 Miles on the Erie Canal" and "A Few of My Favorite Things." And now you're obsessed with it. We watched a cheesy version of it on YouTube about a dozen times over the past few days. You ask me to sing it whenever we get in the car. Yesterday you thought you saw Clementine in the play structure at McDonalds. You kept asking me, where did she go, where did she go? I had to convince you that she had climbed down, went to the restroom and left with her parents.

This is a delicate time for both of us now. How can I impress upon you that you won't die if you get a splinter. I can see it in your eyes, how you hesitate before going out the back door with no shoes on. Or how do I answer you when you ask me, "Where did Clementine go when she died?"

There are questions you interject into the song, every time we sing it, so often now that they have become part of the song:

Oh my darlin' oh my darlin' oh my daaaaarlin' Clementine...
(You: Who is Clementine? Me: She was a girl who lived a long, long time ago.)

You are lost and gone forever...
(You: Did she die? Me: Yes. You: Because she got a splinter?)
..........
Hit her foot against a splinter, fell into the foaming brine.
(You: What's brine? Me: It's another word for ocean. You: She got a splinter?)

We were looking at books at the store today, and you were pointing at various books with girls on the covers, saying, "This one looks like Clementine!"

I think we may be just a few choruses away from you officially adopting poor Clementine as your imaginary friend. Oh dear heart, why couldn't you have just obsessed over some vapid Jonas Brothers song?

Oh, My Darling Clementine

In a cavern, In a canyon,
Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner forty-niner,
And his daughter Clementine.

Chorus:
Oh my darling, Oh my darling,
Oh my darling Clementine,
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry Clementine.

Repeat chorus

Light she was and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine;
Herring boxes, without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.

Repeat chorus

Drove she ducklings to the water,
Every morning just at nine;
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.

Repeat chorus

Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles, soft and fine;
But alas! I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine.