36) A Few Smiles
There are times when your children can embarrass you and make you want the floor to swallow you up. I remember when Jonathan was very small a woman came up to talk to him as I held him in my arms. I don’t remember who she was, just a stranger I think but I remember she had the largest nose I have ever seen on a woman. Jonathan could not have been more than about eight or nine months old but I could see that he could not take his eyes off the lady’s large nose. She chatted to him, making a big fuss of him and he eventually put out one hand and took hold of her nose. I was sure that she would take it as an insult and could not get away fast enough.
Once we were in a lift with a very fat man, Jonathan was a little older by then and I think we had started to teach him that it was not nice to make personal remarks about people but he was still very young and both Jonny and I could see him looking at the large man and we could not wait for the lift to get to the floor we were going to get out at. That time he did not let us down by saying anything but his eyes were like saucer and were very glad to reach our floor and leave the lift.
Once the children embarrassed me by what they did not do rather than by what they did. I was driving through the industrial area with the boys in the back of the car. We came a level crossing and I said what I usually said when we saw a train and a train driver, “Wave to the train driver” I waved my hand to show them how and the driver waved back as train drivers normally do. As the train moved off I looked back to discover that both of the boys were sitting on the floor of the car engrossed in something else and had not seen the train or the driver. I felt so silly, I wanted to go after the train and tell the driver that I did have two children in the car even if he could not see them and I was not waving to him on my own behalf.
We often drove through the industrial area and once Jonathan and Dominic had the weirdest conversation as we drove along. The abattoir and the cemetery were not far apart and one of the boys made a remark about that being were “they were buried” the other one said “no that is not were they bury them that is where they kill them”. It turned into quite a heated argument but we all had a laugh when we realised one was talking about the cemetery and one about the abattoir.
Jonny’s sister Cecilia and her husband Derrick came to visit from Zambia once. They flew down in their small private plane and Derrick offered to take us all on a flip to see Salisbury from the air. I think there was Derrick, Cecilia, their daughter Bernice, Jonny, myself, Jonathan and Dominic. Seven of us in all. We got into the plane and Derrick started up and went through the procedure that was necessary for planes to take off from a large international airport. The control tower asked a few questions; one was how many people were there on board. Derrick said in normal pilot jargon “One plus five” meaning one pilot plus five passengers. We were all too busy looking around us to pick up on his mistake but when we got to the point of taking off the tower asked the question again. Derrick realised that there was seven of us so this time he answered “One plus six” The guys in the control tower were tickled with that and wanted to know if the new arrival was a boy or a girl.
Once we were in a lift with a very fat man, Jonathan was a little older by then and I think we had started to teach him that it was not nice to make personal remarks about people but he was still very young and both Jonny and I could see him looking at the large man and we could not wait for the lift to get to the floor we were going to get out at. That time he did not let us down by saying anything but his eyes were like saucer and were very glad to reach our floor and leave the lift.
Once the children embarrassed me by what they did not do rather than by what they did. I was driving through the industrial area with the boys in the back of the car. We came a level crossing and I said what I usually said when we saw a train and a train driver, “Wave to the train driver” I waved my hand to show them how and the driver waved back as train drivers normally do. As the train moved off I looked back to discover that both of the boys were sitting on the floor of the car engrossed in something else and had not seen the train or the driver. I felt so silly, I wanted to go after the train and tell the driver that I did have two children in the car even if he could not see them and I was not waving to him on my own behalf.
We often drove through the industrial area and once Jonathan and Dominic had the weirdest conversation as we drove along. The abattoir and the cemetery were not far apart and one of the boys made a remark about that being were “they were buried” the other one said “no that is not were they bury them that is where they kill them”. It turned into quite a heated argument but we all had a laugh when we realised one was talking about the cemetery and one about the abattoir.
Jonny’s sister Cecilia and her husband Derrick came to visit from Zambia once. They flew down in their small private plane and Derrick offered to take us all on a flip to see Salisbury from the air. I think there was Derrick, Cecilia, their daughter Bernice, Jonny, myself, Jonathan and Dominic. Seven of us in all. We got into the plane and Derrick started up and went through the procedure that was necessary for planes to take off from a large international airport. The control tower asked a few questions; one was how many people were there on board. Derrick said in normal pilot jargon “One plus five” meaning one pilot plus five passengers. We were all too busy looking around us to pick up on his mistake but when we got to the point of taking off the tower asked the question again. Derrick realised that there was seven of us so this time he answered “One plus six” The guys in the control tower were tickled with that and wanted to know if the new arrival was a boy or a girl.
posted by JC at
9:40 pm
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