Beast LOOOOOOVES storytelling. I make things up on the fly but only have enough creative juices for one every 4 hours. He wants one immediately following the last. Kind of like lighting a cigarette off of the one you just finished. It’s great because you can see his face light up when I mention key words related to star wars and pirates. I also include him in the story which makes him laugh.
A couple of mornings ago Beast crawled into bed with me at 6:00 am. Daisy had already gone to work so he didn’t have to compete for space. I guess making snow angels helps Daisy sleep. He asks me to tell him a story so I begin to do so. Pirate ships are a safe place to start. Beast then said, “Dad…….DAD!!”
“Wha….”
“I can’t hear you.” I wear a night guard and also slur when I’m first waking up. I was too tired to take out the night guard and realized that if I yelled I could still sleep and tell the story more clearly. I was in and out of consciousness so I wasn’t sure if everything I said was making sense. But if he didn’t complain than what did I care?
“Dad!!!”
“Wha…..”
“What are Vikings?”
“Um, they wear horns on their head.” How did that come out of my brain?
Mumble mumble mumble…….fade to black
“Dad!”
“Wha…..”
“What is Canada?”
“Um, it’s the country above us.” Is this where I sent the Vikings?
Mumble mumble mumble…….fade to black
“Dad!”
“Wha…”
“Are you talking about Bakers?”
“Um, yeah. They make bread.”
“Oh.”
Mumble mumble mumble…….fade to black
“Dad!”
“Wha….”
“What’s a ‘license’?”
“You need it to be qualified.” Who do I think needs a license?
Mumble mumble mumble…….fade to black
“Dad!”
“Wha…..”
“What’s the Pama channel?”
“It is helping the Vikings get to LA faster.”
“LA?”
“Los Angeles.”
“Are we done now?”
“Yeah.”
I raise myself up from bed and look at the clock. I kid you not; it was a half hour later. Either I knew what I was talking about the whole time and forgot it as quickly as it came to my mind or else Beast was catching a few words every five minutes and was asking me to clarify. Because to say, “Vikings went to Canada to become licensed bakers and then decided to go through the Panama Cannel takes about 10 seconds.”
After I wrote my short little post a couple of days ago whetting your appetite for what you just read, I was listening to a little NPR on the way to work. It had to do with storytelling being part of our biological makeup and a guy who was about to tell a story to Hollywood producers and the like.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129471712
And now for some extra fun!
One of my graduate professors wrote me and asked if I would speak to the class about beginning a career as a Psychologist. I was very happy to do it last year but didn’t expect an invitation back. Evidently I was, “well received”. Since I received a coffee mug last time I said I wouldn’t do it unless I received another one. I told Daisy about my conditions and she asked, “Isn’t this the guy who has written over a hundred journal articles and 4 or 5 books?”
“Um, yeah?”
She rolled her eyes and went back to reading her book. Today I received an e-mail saying he would indeed give me a coffee mug. I was close to asking if the all of the professors in the Psy.D dept. would sign it but decided against it. I’m not sure if he would think it was a joke or not.
Demand the signatures.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement Brandon. They no longer have the power over me I once felt like they did. The apprentice has now become the MASTER!!!!
ReplyDeletePerhaps you should show up with a dozen coffee mugs that you have personally autographed and hand them out to the faculty?
ReplyDeleteBrandon,
ReplyDeleteI was too narrow minded to think about the situtation in such a unique and, ultimately, brilliant way. You have now proven yourself worthy to become one of my followers. Won't that be fun?