Love Will Tear Us Apart
Problem Child 2 came to me this morning with the tattered cover of a Mr. Men book, all the pages missing.
“Mummy,” she said, “I loved this book too much.”
“Ah, that’s too bad. The cover’s not much use by itself,” I said, and we threw it in the bin.
We talked for a minute about how, while it’s true that old and tattered things get that way because someone loves and uses them so much, we also need to be gentle with things we know will come apart easily so they will last as long as possible.
“That’s why we had to be quiet visiting Grandma Edna before she died,” said Problem Child 1.
“Umph…yes,” I said, because she was sort of right.
May 10th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Hmm, it seems your girls are quite aggressive lovers. Something of the lioness about them.
May 11th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Damn it! That’s just so cute there’s nothing smart I can say.
May 11th, 2008 at 1:54 am
AW! How true… kids are great like that!
May 11th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Eeeeee, I would have had to scoop her up and give her a big squeeze for that. Then I would have put her back down, hoping nobody noticed my squeeness towards non french bulldogs.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Nanas, there are days when they fight like cat and cat to be sure.
Sneezy, childhood wisdom is so stark sometimes, it’s like the Truth running about with no clothes on.
Deborah, and so solemn as she said it.
fatmammycat, I didn’t, just a quick kiss, because she was busy. But I went to the laundry room and had a wee tear. It was that sort of day.
May 11th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
She’s whip smart, Sam.
Aside from being able to talk about the meaning of love, it warms my heart to see a child who loves books.
Sniff.
May 11th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
kids are so damn insightful. now if only they’d stop putting things up their noses all the time.
May 11th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
it’s hard to be cynical when you read stuff like that…….damn you!
May 11th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Our baby is called Phili too, and he often he tells me truths.
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Excellent poetry S&C!!!
It’s true… my parents are often left dog-eared and crumpled after a visit from Puppychild. It’s difficult to be gentle with the things we love
Priceless title!
May 12th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Much wisdom in that daughter of yours, Sam.
Cheers.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:51 am
So sweet.
Although there are times when I find myself waiting to be thrown out with the rest of the tattered useless stuff…
May 12th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
A good lesson fo her to learn. better a book than a much loved pet or baby brother. I don’t know where that came from. Too much Edgar Allen Poe I suspect.
May 13th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Oh, majorly cute.
But which, oh which, of the Mssrs Men were it? I cannot rest until I knows!
May 13th, 2008 at 5:23 am
That was Phili our youngest , aka Omar Shariff. aka Phili Bin Laden who shares a first name with that other famous and charming Philip, that poet fella Larkin.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:51 am
Doesn’t it just kill you when your kids come up with something like that? You get a little warm fuzzy in the pit don’t cha?
May 13th, 2008 at 6:52 am
Smart kid
Love the way the neurons spark and ideas ping around like wildfire when you’re a kid. Something we lose as we grow up…
May 13th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Medbh, they haven’t yet got to the stage where they ask a question and i tell them to go and look it up in the encyclopedia or dictionary. That used to infuriate me as a child but as an adult I’ve always been grateful for having had the discipline drummed into me. I doubt I’d have it on my own.
Kara, the prob husband advises them never to put anything smaller than their elbows in their ears and then we sit back on the sofa with our mimosas, checking that day’s parenting off as done.
Manuel, We’re growing one of each out here: one little cynicling and one little romanticling. I think adolescence when it comes could well be fraught with misunderstanding.
Sniffle&Cry, ha – great poem! Misery sure, but a wee bit of mirth too, no?
K8, there are days when I feel like I’m a dog-eared, juice-stained supermarket paper-back too. Next lesson will have to be Do Not Tickle Mercilessly The Things You Love. They jump out at me you know! Like Cato on The Pink Panther only shorter and with more deadly tickle intent.
Rand, more than me, at times. I’m sure of that.
Kim, me too, buddy, oh, me too.
Pat, I have been wondering about the primarily black and blood-red palate my kids have been using in their pictures…
Conan, Tickle. One of my own personal favourites in the Mr Men ouvre.
Sniffly, but why Omar Shariff? Is he sporting a magnificent moustache already? I blame the hormones they give the cows – brings on puberty earlier and earlier. There are 8 year olds around these days who sound like Barry White. And are hairier.
Sugar, the fuzzy moments certainly make up for the screamy, prickly moments, for sure.
Jen, Californians are a pretty sparky crew but wild-fire season is coming fast upon us. I reckon they should be forced to wear ear-guards to stop stray embers shooting out and causing multi-county catastrophe.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Ah yes, how well I do remember him. Mr Sneeze was the favourite chez Drumm.
We also had a game trying to marry off the appropriate Mr to a Little Miss. Terribly heterosexist of us, I’m sure.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Because he can charm the birds from the trees. That’s his big thing, making others happy. He melts us.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Conan, I have my suspicions about Mr. Happy and Mr. Neat. I think they should be free to live the Mr. life they want to.
Sniffly, he sounds lovely.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Aw that’s lovely. Yes Larkin as Dr Seuss sounds good to me.
July 1st, 2008 at 8:51 am
Goodness gracious, Sam, the Mr. Men are loathesome. A role and a character fixed for each, for life; eeugh. PC2 did the right thing in ripping them to shreds; the child will go far.
PH’s advice concerning elbows in ears is laudable. After a bit of that maybe they’ll be less keen on sticking their elbows into you. My daughter’s elbows have always been far sharper than an intelligent god would have permitted.