 |
| Parents, the train has left the station, are you kinda, sorta ready? |
What did you imagine parenting to be? I’ve been a parent for
10 years now, and I still have no idea what will occur tomorrow in terms of
where the challenge lies – will it be in macramé, dog grooming, healing with
crystals, heathen conversion, satellite deployment?
More like accepting and appreciating random, life-affirming spontaneity
that comes in bizarre packets of whack. (The first crack at this sentence was Every day a new challenge. After mock
puking I got down to it).
I remember getting on a plane when my daughter was a toddler
in diapers. A mom with three little girls, maybe five, seven, and nine, all
politely took their seats. No jockeying for position, no arguing who sat where.
Each wore modest, stylish clothes, hair perfectly done, and carried a small carry-on.
The mom made a few remarks, the kids sat and took out books –
it all looked so effortless. I thought that such was my due as a parent. Sure
there would be rough patches, I told myself, but the smooth sailing would look
like this mother and her offspring.
I later learned this mom, a notorious international saboteur,
escaped incarceration and kidnapped the girls. After drugging them with Benadryl
and dressing them in Hanna Anderson, they all boarded the plane to attend Comic-Con
as slave Princess Leia and some enraged Ewoks.
My life is different. I was with the kids all weekend and
turned on the video camera, hoping for a happy accident. Video is a great tool
to capture the random energy that characterizes kids.
One kid was a medieval warrior with a hankering for American history. The other, just carried away with a classic Cramps cover. However, things did get more serious.
Stay tuned for our blockbuster fan film.
The title for this post comes from dialogue from the Cartoon
Network series “Adventure Time,” a cartoon that does well to promote the
surreal nature of childhood.
No comments:
Post a Comment