Forget dictionaries of quotations. Jasper's birthday reminded me of how often younger people offer valuable advice. A five-year-old god-daughter of mine, called Teresa, once told me: "Ó Padrinho; porque é que vens a estas festas se preferias ficar em casa?" ("Why come to these parties if you'd rather stay at home?"). Another one, called Assunção, recently told me that my guests didn't really appreciate the elaborate cocktails I was serving and would prefer just whiskies and soda and gins and tonics. In both cases I acted on their wisdom... and they were absolutely right! I wonder if there are any other shareable pearls available from Kaf's nephew, the glorious Max, or any of 9622's younger acquaintances?
Posted by Miguel at October 30, 2003 03:01 AMIs it just me, or do hippos have some of the scariest mouths in all of nature? Makes me wonder why the Royal Dental Association chose them as a mascot at all...
Posted by: arto on October 30, 2003 06:18 AM
My son once told me: "Shoes that light up are better than shoes that don't light up." Truth, my boy!
Posted by: Fes on October 30, 2003 09:52 AMGreetings, Don Fester, you have my every loyalty.
*kisses ring*
Posted by: jonmc on October 30, 2003 10:52 AMA great quote, Fes. I have just telephoned my 18-year-old nephew and used it as justification for buying him* a pair of decent English leather shoes instead of the crappy Nike trainers he'd asked for:
"Shoes that light up are better than shoes that don't light up."
My only lie was in the attribution. Instead of crediting your enlightened son, I thought it more effective to attribute this wisdom to Marlon Brando's character in the first Godfather film. If he ever actually sees it; I promise I'll correct myself... :)
*He turned 18 on the 18th October and his mother, my sister-in-law, decided to print a book of tributes, with contributions from all his relatives. You have no idea how embarrassing this was. I'm a pro and yet I spent days searching for an acceptable text - and failed miserably. In the end, all I could offer was a sorry, summabitch apology of the Hallmark variety of "So now you're finally a man, my dear nephew". It will haunt my posterity forever. And no ass jokes. *
Posted by: Miguel on October 30, 2003 11:24 AMYou did the right thing, Miguel. Comes a day not too long from now he will know your wisdom in this. When my son turns 18, I plan to give him these: 1 2 (my copy) 3 (his own copy) 4 and 5
What he does with them is up to him.
Jon, you have ever been dear to the Family. If you ever need a favor, you come to me.
Posted by: Fes on October 30, 2003 12:14 PMMy son told me today that he wasn't going to school, that he was going back to sleep.
For a brief moment, it was extremely hard to argue with him.
Posted by: adampsyche on October 30, 2003 12:38 PMYou're a good father, Fes. I say this in all serious- and Portugueseness.
Now, if I could only teach him the basics of this language i speak, I could send him this right away. You know, so he would know me when he meets me; call me uncle and all that. :)
Posted by: Miguel on October 30, 2003 12:49 PMI don't have any little ones in my life (no cousins, nieces/nephews, or brothers/sisters), but I have gotten quite a bit of wisdom from older folk.
My high school buddy's Gramps was the best. He was an old Navy man, and truly spoke like one. The best quip I ever heard from him:
"You know a man is truly fast when he can fart underwater and spin around to bite the bubble."
I've yet to meet a man that speedy, but I can't say I haven't risked whiplash trying for myself.
Posted by: ufez on October 30, 2003 02:44 PMI have a habit of calling my niece Stinky or Little Stinky. This came from my sister not at all appreciating "Furrball", my original nickname for Helen. When Helen was two, she turned the tables on me...in response to my calling her "little stinky" once again, she mumbled, "ok, you BIG stinky!" Considering that I'm usually rather flatuent, the nickname stunk, er, stuck.
Posted by: notsnot on October 30, 2003 03:14 PMThe lil one next door likes telling everyone, "that's Thom's house"..."Thom house" then inside; this my mommy's Thom, Thom...Thom this my mommy's...Thom popsicle...mmm good", he is only 2. Or they just say: Play with me...
Posted by: thomcatspike on October 30, 2003 05:50 PMFunny you should mention this subject, Miguel. Today was just another ordinary tree-trimming day. We got to a job at about noon, and the guy who drives the chipper truck was already talking to a little boy. The little guy, whose name was Owen, was demanding to go inside the truck. With all the extra polesaw blades in the cab, we decided that it was probably a bad idea. Owen seemed to deal with the disappointment fairly well, because when we broke for lunch on their front lawn, he dashed outside in a manner that can only be described as madcap. He threw a blanket down and squealed, "Look! Now you guys can have a picnic!" He then scrambled back inside the house. He ran back outside approximately 45 seconds later hiding something behind his back and asked us all our names (there were only three of us) and proceeded to hand out packets of whimsically shaped fruit snacks to us (I got Curious George!). As I split the packet of fruit snacks with him (Mom was watching amusedly from the front porch), he asked us about trees, what kind of leaf is that, is it fun climbing trees all day, etc. He then grabbed a Red Maple leaf and waved it and proclaimed, "It's like a perfect miracle!" He then told us he had to go turn into the Hulk and ran back inside.
His mom came down from the porch and asked us what we were talking about for so long. When we told her, she was a little surprised. She told us that Owen is autistic, and usually a little skittish around strangers. She said he does really like trees and big trucks though. We waved bye to him as he went to school in his Halloween costume (he did, in fact, turn into the Hulk) and got back to work. The rest of the day was a little sunnier for us. Owen is right. Sometimes it is like a perfect miracle, isn't it?
Posted by: Mars Crash on October 30, 2003 07:22 PM*gulp*
(the hard swallow when you're unexpectedly moved)
Thanks, Mars.
Posted by: Miguel on October 30, 2003 07:25 PMWow, Mars.
That story is little, perfect and a miracle.
Posted by: brittney on October 31, 2003 10:04 AMA note about posting images:
We encourage users to post images, especially those hilarous pics of monkeys
wearing dresses or programming for Linux. But posting images that reside on someone
else's server is considered by many to be bandwidth theft. Our thoughts
on the matter, along with some solutions to the problem, can be found
here. Thanks.
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