Marbles
After several days of deadline pressure, I returned to Ricochet this evening intending to write a post. What did I discover? That everything I wanted to say had already been said. (Troy Senik: Mitt Romney still strikes a lot of conservatives as "someone who sees this as a game to be won, rather than a cause to be advanced." If there were a Pulitzer Prize for individual sentences, Troy would just have clinched it.)
Instead of opining, then, may I simply offer a word on behalf of fatherhood? My youngest daughter, who turned 10 just yesterday, dragged me away from my work just now to force me onto my knees for a game of marbles. Just marbles. Thirteen mibs inside a string circle, the blue shooter for her, the orange shooter for me. When I missed an easy shot by about two feet, she erupted into such pure, unforced peals of laughter, collapsing onto her side and rolling on the carpet, that I decided right then that I had never experienced a more completely delightful moment. Then, the game tied at six apiece, I missed again, leaving her to make a long, tricky shot--and knock the last mib out of the circle, winning. Oh, the look on her face! Surprise and joy--sheer joy. For an instant, the very universe had to a ten-year old in pajamas.
"Dad," she said, laughing once again after saying her prayers, "I still don't see how you could have missed that one shot."
Until tomorrow, Ricochet.
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May '10
Re: Marbles
HEADLINE: Noted Conservative Peter Robinson Loses His Marbles, Blames His Youngest Child
One of them always gets you in the end, Brother Robinson....
Edited on February 2, 2012 at 6:50amDec '10
Re: Marbles
Thanks Pete,
Maybe I can get some sleep now. The Rabbis say that an adult is to a young child as Gd is to the adult.
The child can not understand the complexities of the adult but is secure in knowing that the adult loves them unconditionally.
So Gd loves us unconditionally.
May '10
Re: Marbles
EJHill: HEADLINE: Noted Conservative Peter Robinson Loses His Marbles, Blames His Youngest Child
One of them always gets you in the end, Brother Robinson.... · 3 minutes ago
Edited 2 minutes ago
I object...you took this out of context. He obviously left them in Neverland.
Mar '11
Re: Marbles
What a lovely moment, Peter. Thanks for sharing it. Children are a blessing:
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.--Psalm 127:5
Jul '11
Re: Marbles
Just awesome, how could you miss that shot? My 9 year old just finished "Where the Red Fern Grows" 20 minutes ago and there was some consoling involved even though he knew it would end sadly.
May '10
Re: Marbles
Peter and his wife have five children. My wife and I have four. With that many children, it is not a drive to crazy, just a short putt.
Like Peter, I would not trade any of it away for all the gold in Glenn Beck's safe. Although when the tuition bills start rolling in next fall for the oldest's freshman year the wife might consider selling me off.
Re: Marbles
While my daughter was at karate tonight I wrote in a coffeehouse next door. In a chair a few yards away was an old man I remembered from my college days - an impossibly remote professorial type, Olympian in mien, utterly self-contained, exuding a strange sort of protective acid that warned off attempts to intrude.
My daughter came bouncing in when her class was done, and I shut my laptop. We looked at the items in the bakery case, and I pointed out how some labels were in Papyrus font, and some were in Neutra, and how they clashed. The company did everything in Neutra. Papyrus was wrong. She rolls her eyes and says ONLY YOU THE FONT GOD CARES, which led to a discussion about fonts, and what they mean, and how you want your store to look, and how knowing the difference between one font and another is a skill you can parlay into a career. The quotidian intangibles of design.
The old man looked up with a cold stare: this vocal, fractious discussion of art was interfering with his reading. Children. Really. Must you?
No greater joy, Peter. Ain’t it grand?
May '10
Re: Marbles
EJHill
Peter and his wife have five children. My wife and I have four. With that many children, it is not a drive to crazy, just a short putt.
A gimme?
Aug '11
Re: Marbles
You must have an aggie for a shooter. This is a marble, not a Texan.
Jul '10
Re: Marbles
Good for you, Peter: Never too busy to smell the roses or shoot the marbles.
Aug '11
Re: Marbles
Marbles, eh? That sounds like a completely appropriate post for a site called "Ricochet." Cheap shot or right on the mark?
I guess you'll have to knuckle down for your next shot...and a subject for your next post! Looking forward to it!
Edited on February 2, 2012 at 12:27pmMay '10
Re: Marbles
Moments such as this from Peter are what separates Ricochet from all other political/opinion sites. Thanks, Peter.
May '11
Re: Marbles
Childish innocence is a wonderful thing.
Re: Marbles
This exactly what we've got in Britain with our answer to Mitt, David Cameron. He's a Conservative for whom conservatism is a moveable feast - to be picked from or completely jetisoned according to the perceived whims of the electorate.
Edited on February 2, 2012 at 1:49pmOct '10
Re: Marbles
Wish we still had a ten-year-old. And a seven-year-old. And a four-year...well, I won't go that far.
Peter, suck it up like a sponge, it ends too soon.
Sep '10
Re: Marbles
Conversation overheard when my little girl (Bug) was almost four and was walking back to the car with her bestest friend ever (Sara) just a few feet ahead of me:
Sara: That was fun.
Bug: Yeah.
Sara: Leslah's the silliest grownup ever.
The most excellent compliment I've ever got.
Mar '11
Re: Marbles
I find kids keep me young. And yes, even sane. We have 6, and we home school, so they are always around: learning, helping, working on projects or chores or assignments.
I can now walk into a store, hand the list to a kid, and meet them at checkout. Like whirling dervishes they get it all done, and do it right.
Kids give me unspeakable pleasure. I wallow in it, like some big hippo in a massive mud bath. When I want to feel sad, I imagine them all out of the house...
Feb '11
Re: Marbles
It's always the simple toys that are the most fun. My three-year old daughter has a plethora of electronically-enhanced toys, mostly received as gifts. Her greatest joy, however, is breaking out either the TinkerToys, her magnet blocks, or Lincoln Logs and declaring that we have to build "The Biggest Thing Ever" (a result, at least partially, of much time spent watching the indispensable 'Phineas & Ferb').
I have a hard time believing that anyone who cannot appreciate the sheer joy of children is, in any meaningful sense, a human being.
Dec '10
Re: Marbles
Thanks for sharing Peter. Reading about that beautiful moment set me on the right pace for the day.
Mar '11
Re: Marbles
My wife has a category of story: TTTTS (The Things That They Say).
One of my all-time favorites was a conversation between two 11 year-old boys.
JOB POSSIBILITIES -- T and his friend were in the car together, discussing the low level of gas in the car, and how we needed to get to a gas station soon.
Friend: "I sure would not like to be one of those people at a gas station who give change when you don't pay by credit card."
T: "Why?
Friend: "Because I stink at math."
T: "Well, anyway, it is not that interesting a job. Sure, you get to occasionally see fireballs, but they are trying to cut down on those, so I think it must be usually quite boring."