EVERY - The Bulletin Magazine
EVERY - The Bulletin Magazine
EVERY - The Bulletin Magazine
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Speaking of Childhood...<br />
by Crystal Eves<br />
Last Saturday, for the very first time, I sent my youngest son off to overnight camp. It was a bittersweet<br />
moment, as these milestones tend to be, leaving me rather reflective as we drove away. I thought about the<br />
passage of time, about the course of his young life, and mostly I realized that certain aspects of his growth<br />
are now established beyond my ability to alter them.<br />
If I missed specific opportunities to influence him in those formative years, they will remain missed forever<br />
and for some things this is very, very good because I was thinking that there were a few extremely odd things<br />
I could have done but didn't.<br />
For one, I didn't train him to make bizarre word choices, as much as I might have found that amusing.<br />
It would have been such a simple tendency to instill too. If, for example, each time I referred to the outside<br />
I had called it 'the great outdoors', he would have thought that normal and adopted it as a matter of course.<br />
<strong>The</strong> term is essentially accurate, just unusual for everyday use.<br />
Along those same lines, I could have taught him to call jeans 'long pants', teeth 'mini tusks' and people 'souls'.<br />
When asking a question I might have trained him to use the word 'perchance'. But I didn't, even though it's<br />
the kind of thing that crosses my mind.<br />
And as long as I'm talking about words, why is it that we still use the term 'landlord'? Isn't that a bit<br />
antiquated? Just because someone owns land that they rent out, I don't see why they should be called a 'lord'.<br />
If it makes sense that we do, then I think in fairness we should also call other people lords.<br />
<strong>The</strong> guy pumping my gas could be the 'fuel-lord'. Teachers should be the 'learning-lords'. As the matriarch of<br />
my house I think I should be called the 'womb-lord'.<br />
Would that be too strange?<br />
Probably- which is why I restrained myself from saying what I was really thinking before we left my son at<br />
camp, and that was, "Be nice to the other souls, don't forget to clean your mini tusks and give your womblord<br />
a kiss before you head off into the great outdoors."<br />
Instead I just said, "Have fun, kiddo!" and he replied, rather annoyed that we stayed an hour before we left,<br />
"I will, I will. Can you go already!"<br />
I have his best interest at heart and he's growing more independent. We both said the right thing.<br />
Deep in Thought and Covered in Crumbs...<br />
A collection of Crystal's columns about making changes and believing in yourself. You'll<br />
laugh, you'll cry, you'll feel great about who you are! Available now at Amazon.com<br />
28 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Bulletin</strong> | August 2010 www.thebulletinmagazine.com