Monday, November 16, 2009

Happily ever after

A very busy weekend was had looking after Harry aged four and Danny aged just one. Harry had a new haircut which only served to make him more irresistible; he is already an irresistible force to be reckoned with. Danny, I conclude, is just like me: he tries his very hardest to be constantly smiley; he has mastered the art of walking but sort of lumbers about like his Nan with her fat leg - he has two fat legs if we are brutally honest. Like me, he just needs regular food, sleep and slathery kisses; he dribbles more than necessary and hates to be bothered by mundane things like dressing. It's clearly in the genes. He manages to ignore the dribble rash on his chin and the constant snot waxing from his nose; just as I ignore the silly cough, the pain in my shoulder and Mrs R in the attic.

Harry and I do easy peasey lemon squeezey jigsaws and we compose stories. I am the author he is the illustrator. A prince called Harry and a putative princess called Lydia - his lost love from nursery school - feature strongly. There is much living happily ever after which causes me to kiss Harry on his newly shorn head and look behind me to see the shadows creeping in the deep dark woods.

In the real world, where Prince Harry does not scale towers or put peas under mattresses but goes off to fight other hopeless wars, our ever afters depend on the memories of our offspring, family and friends. I know, however,that in our family they will be arguing about the memories, when we did this, how we did that etc. I just looked at my number 1 son, Sam's, website http://samtrainor.neuf.fr/info.html - I wanted to find his address as it's his birthday on Wednesday and I was too lazy to run upstairs for the address book. It's worth a visit and after reading a few of his notes and his poems I once again wonder how I bred someone so devilishly clever and " different". In fact I bred four of them; it must have been the fluoride in the water. Anyway he describes his family as " Cosmopolitanly Brummie, lovingly argumentative, laconically verbose, individualistically socialist, stoically epicurean, sceptically utopian, strictly liberal and downright uplifting" It's a good description and makes me feel proud and I know that that is how they will deal with my ever after.. they will be "lovingly argumentative" and I couldn't wish for anything better.

But what will Harry and Danny remember? I will endeavour to make memories for them along with the stories and the easy peasy jigsaws for as long as I can. After that it will be up to the rest of them to continue to be "downright uplifting" for each other and for the next wave of loving arguers to keep their ever afters going along with mine.

2 comments:

  1. That link to my site has lapsed. Try : www.samtrainor.com

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  2. I enjoyed Sam's summary of the family alot also, although I would like to propose the following ammends to his FAQ

    How would you describe your character...

    Smart Arse

    ReplyDelete