Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Between a rock and a hard place

Picking E up at school he wants to run down the hallway to get a drink of water. The fountain is fascinating as he noisily slurps away. The fan whirs to life in the back. “Fan! Fan!” He looks to me for confirmation. Yes, yes my boy now let’s get going. The traffic is getting worse out there.

In the driveway the rocks are fascinating. I try to put his coat on and he squirms and wiggles to reach the stones at his feet. C’mon E. I’m cold. Let’s get inside.

Just before bedtime, he lines up all his toys on the edge of the bathtub knocking them into the water. “Cup! Cup!” he asks as I try to wash his hair. Just one pour and then we have to get ready for bed.



The alarm clock rings and I rush into work, turn my computer on, and look around. There’s row upon row of grey cubicle walls. What I wouldn’t give for a little hand to tug me down to pick up some rocks.

5 comments:

Kapitano said...

Yes, the world is an endlessly fascinating place...but only when you're supposed to be doing something else, and only when you're not in a classroom supposedly learning about it.

25 years ago I found an interesting rock on a beach. Actually, the only interesting things about it are that it's perfectly symmetrical and five times the size of any of the other rocks.

I carried it on the journey home with took hours. And then couldn't quite remember why I'd thought it'd be great to have a very large pebble in the house.

That evening, we discovered what we really needed was a big heavy doorstop to keep a door open. 25 years later the stone is still there.

And the moral of the story is..."kids like big rocks". Or "Nature provides doorstops". Or "Whatever you come home with, you'll soon find a use for".

Red Seven said...

Awwwww.

That's all, just "Awwwww."

(Seriously, that was so cute.)

Bacchus said...

It amazes me how much excitement and awe they can inspire in us. Today we chased waves on the beach.

Sometimes it helps to carry rocks.

Anonymous said...

I was a kid who filled my pockets with interesting little rocks. Today when my almost 5 year old handed me rocks and pinecones he found on our walk, it was like a jerk of memory which brought me back to that small boy again.

Beautiful post.

Terri@SteelMagnolia said...

Awww.... that was sweet!
What a good daddy you are.