In the few brief moments we snagged for breakfast this morning while Nuala was tolerating her bouncy seat, we listened to a snippet of Weekend Edition including a bit of an interview with General Patton’s grandson, who has written a biography of his family for Smithsonian. The latter is a new father himself, and expressed a hope that he would be able to impart wisdom to his son, born at the beginning of this month. Spouse, who had by this point retrieved our squalling child from what she now recognized as a torture device covered in deadly woodland predators, let out a weary sigh and said, “I haven’t even thought of wisdom yet.” At which point we both laughed until we had tears in our eyes.
Happy Father’s Day!
My grandfather’s two nuggets of wisdom:
A) Never ever owe anybody money.
B) Douglas “Dug-Out Doug” MacArthur was a terrible commanding officer and an awful man.
Presumably he would have had similar sentiments about Patton, had he been in the European theater.
My own wisdom will be dispensed alongside viewings of Star Trek and Star Wars.
Has Spouse not found guidance in the wise, upifting words of Tom Waits or Leonard Cohen? “First we take Manhattan . . .” or “Everybody Knows the fight is fixed; the poor stay poor and the rich get rich.”
Spouse says (and I transcribe), “The wisest thing Tom Waits ever said was, ‘I got hair on my chest, I look good without a shirt.’”
so lovely.
Wisdom is what you gain while raising your offspring……and to think all this time we thought we were wise BEFORE children. It was interesting what my son said to me on his 20th birthday, “Well mom, I know longer know everything.” Now that’s wisdom at it’s best.
I’ve felt pretty clueless about The Big Things for most of my life so far, so I’m glad to hear I’ll finally be learning something! First lesson on the list, apparently: A Clean House, Sleep, and Anything Beyond Basic Personal Hygiene is Overrated.