At dinner one evening: my maternal grandparents get into an argument over a certain indentation in Granddad’s head, which he believes resulted from a recent head injury. But Grandmom assures the rest of the family that the dent has always been there, just behind his ear; she remembers it. And this seems to me a perfect illustration of a 60+ year marriage: knowledge of {and gentle disagreements about} another’s skull formation. Maybe love is just having someone who knows your weird head better than you do.
In the public libraries of my youth: I read The Hunger Games {which I CAN’T EVEN TALK ABOUT; I can only fiercely chomp bread and mutter unintelligibly about the wondrousness of Peeta} and write letters. It’s like sending telegrams from the mother ship. There’s an older library employee with scrunchy, too-short pants and a curly mane of hair who continually dis-and-reappears from behind unmarked doors. He bobs between shelves with a buoyant step, as if he might lift off at any moment — a Dewey Decimal-fueled rocket ship.
At a New Year’s Eve party: a beloved four year-old holds my hand and says, “You didn’t know me when I was a baby. But when I was a baby, I missed you so much.” Later, during a game of Twister, he informs me that he’s a tiger, and tigers don’t have to follow rules in games or life.
Seems like sound logic for 2012. Want to be a tiger with me?
10 January 2012 at 10:54 pm
A couple observations…..
I am pretty sure my wife knows the outside AND inside of my skull better than I do (and in only 16 years).
I always liked the Abilene Public Library, has a cool layout and stairways. I haven’t been there in years, but my mom said she thought they took out the card catalogs, which saddens me.
That must have been quite an entertaining party!
And…… tigers RULE at Twister!!! RULE!! And checkers. And Trivial Pursuit – mainly because of the rules excemption. “What is the capitol of Uzbikistan?” – SLASH!! Game over.
11 January 2012 at 10:26 pm
That four-year-old is more than precocious.