so i finally decided to show my eldest daughter how to catch a coin dropped from her elbow this evening. (some of you may have seen me showing off this particular trick at work. sadly, it's one of only three highly inconsequential skill sets that i possess, along with twirling a meter stick and bending my ring finger backwards at a grotesque angle.) at first, seven expressed little interest (or proficiency) in mastering this somewhat peculiar feat. but once she got the hang of it, the smile on her face could have lit up times square on a saturday night.
however, it was seven's comments during tonight's training session that really struck a chord with me. for whenever i would demonstrate the stunt using multiple coins (59 is my record, as some of you may recall), seven would inevitably respond with a remark along the lines of "wow, dad! you are the most awesome father in the world!"
humility aside, i must admit that comments of that nature still bring a lump to my throat. but not for the reasons that you may assume they would.
no, i sometimes feel a sense of pensive melancholy whenever my daughter thanks me for teaching her how to do something because i wish i could teach her more. i wish i could have learned more from my own father when i was younger so that i could pass along those seemingly insignificant skills to my offspring. i wish i could be more like the fathers of my daughter's friends who seem to know how to do everything that a typical suburban dad is supposed to have learned.
"don't worry that your children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you." - robert fulghum
speaking of pensive melancholy:
p.s. i did mention that we would be starting up a juggling club at school come september, didn't i? oh, and by the way, you're the new president. mazel tov.
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I can see your daughter teaching her children in the future how to catch coins off their elbow as well. That'd be like, 3 generations of coin catching.
ReplyDeleteAnd my god, that song is such a blast from the past.
Um, just wanted to remind you that you listed your top five talents about a hundred posts ago. One, the ability to wake up in the morning without the assistance of an alarm clock. Two, the ability to catch anything thrown at you at lightning fast speeds. Three, the ability to crack your foot over and over again (which goes along the lines of the grotesque talent of bending your finger backwards… eww). Four, the ability to catch a tower of pennies stacked on your elbow with a flick of the arm. And five, the ability to spin a meter stick in your hand like those cheerleaders do with much perfection. Maybe the extra three skills that you didn’t mention in this post doesn’t quite qualify as one of your highly inconsequential skill sets that you possess. And as for another peculiar skill to master, I suggest balancing a few pens (or pencils) on the back of your hand, and attempt to grab all of them with one quick flick of the hand. But if you are going to try this, you should try to find pens of the same diameter. But knowing you, you can never find a pen to write with, so what are the chances that you will have several pens of the same shape? Not likely if you ask me. So if a lack of uniform pens is the leading factor that persuades you to use your time elsewhere, I propose that you learn how to juggle. You have the proper equipment to try out this skill. Tennis balls or baseballs will do. And you never know, if you really practice juggling, you might even become better than me. I guess we’ll have to wait until early September to really see who the better juggler is. But of course, that is only if you do decide to learn how to juggle.
ReplyDelete- new name pending
what does the back street boys have to do with teaching your daughter talents? cuz obviously, the back street boys have none.
ReplyDeleteHaha~ I just learned how to do the "balance pens on back of hand and catch them" trick that a commenter wrote up there ^ .
ReplyDeleteYou should also write a post teaching how to do the coins-catching trick! Seems cool! I'm going to YOUTUBE it x)
-M.
i want to learn how to juggle!!! make a comment explaining the concept!
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