After coaching a little league soccer camp a few weeks ago, I received a ride home from a man named Doug and his granddaughter of five years of age - a fact that she made sure I was very clear on, as her birthday was only the week before.
The fifteen minute ride was one of complete and utter delight. One of my very favourite things about children is their innate and awe-striking capacity for imagination. I do believe that the very best stories in life could be crafted by children, if only they had the ability to appropriately use grammar, punctuation, and simply write.
One of our first conversations - after she told me of her age and birthday - was to let me know that the nearby building we were passing was Rapunzel's castle. It looked like a giant Catholic cathedral to me, but she informed me that this was most definitely not correct. I pondered to myself that there might be a slight possibility that Rapunzel could have lived there. Or at least, it was much more fun to think so. I do believe that there are times when it is okay to play along with the fanciful tales of children - they will only possess these things for so long before they disappear, and I think we should try to foster them as much as possible before they've lost it with their "adult-ness".
Our next conversation was on her recent camping trip with her family. She informed me that they had two great adventures. To be honest, I cannot remember the first, because the second fascinated me so much. She let me know that they had seen a skunk while they were out wilderness camping and all ran into their tents until it left. She let out a great sigh though, lamenting the fact that just before it left, it ate all of their cheetos.
I thought that the skunk was a great genius indeed. And very crafty. A cheeto-eating skunk is a rather humorous thought to me - sneaking around in the dark, scaring nearby wilderness campers, breaking open their cheeto bags, and eating all of those delicious simulated cheese-covered snacks until he was satisfied and wandered away. The very definition of brillance.
Best conversation of my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment