Posted on 09/16/2003 8:26:55 AM PDT by pad 34
Hangin’ With the In-Laws
We drove out to Front Royal yesterday to spend some quality time with my nephews.
Ryan is eight, and I hadn’t seen him in almost three years. He nearly tackled me. Within a couple of minutes, we were fencing with makeshift tinker-toy swords.
“En garde!” I shouted.
“Hyaaah!” Ryan responded, repeatedly “stabbing” me with his “sword.”
Ryan’s brother Kyle, who isn’t quite three years old, picked up a tinker toy and brandished it at me. He growled ferociously, then joined the melee.
I could hold my own against Ryan, but bringing in the toddler was dirty pool. I was “killed” several times.
Ryan finally tired of this activity, so we sat down to play some chess. His thinking is surprisingly sophisticated, for an eight-year-old. I observed as he planned several moves ahead. The only problem was that he was planning aloud.
“Let’s see… if I move my bishop like this, you’ll take it with your queen… no, OK, if I move the castle..”
“Rook.”
“If I move the rook, then you can’t… OK, I’ve got it!”
But as soon as I had his king in danger, it was all over. He couldn’t see beyond protecting his king, and I picked off the other pieces one by one until there was nothing left.
“Hey!”
“Sorry, Ryan. Do you want to play again?”
“Naw. Let’s do another swordfight!”
My sister-in-law took us out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Ryan made a mess of his tacos.
“Uncle Scott?” He had something on his mind.
“What is it, Ryan?”
“Why did you have to go to war?”
I looked at his mother. She shrugged.
“Because there are bad people in the world, and they have to be stopped.”
He looked confused.
“Bad guys,” I continued, “like the terrorists—Or the snipers.” Growing up in Northern Virginia, Ryan was very familiar with both. “I had to go to war to stop them from doing bad things.”
“Oh.” He seemed to understand this. “But why did YOU have to go?”
“Well, Ryan, if I didn’t go, somebody else would have to do it.” How do you explain concepts like citizenship and responsibility to a third-grader? “What if nobody goes to stop the bad guys? Then they would win. And they could do all sorts of bad things, with no one to stop them.”
“Oh.” He seemed satisfied with my explanation, and went back to playing with his taco.
If an eight-year-old can understand this, why is it so difficult for some adults?
Someone crammed a sombrero on my head, and a band of waiters appeared out of the woodwork, singing “Happy Birthday” to me in Spanglish. Ryan and Kyle were delighted by the show, and took turns wearing the hat while we ate Mexican ice cream…
* * *
A family picnic was scheduled in the park today, honoring several birthdays (including mine) and my safe homecoming. The grub was takeout from Red, Hot & Blue, home of the best Memphis Pit Barbecue outside the state of Tennessee.
Unfortunately it rained all day, so we had to move the party indoors.
I blame President Bush.
Next Stop: Washington
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