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Edition:
September 02, 2010
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EDITORIAL
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Puppy Dog Tales: Depth perception
• by Lori Fischer Thorp
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A few weeks ago, I mentioned in this column that now that Don has turned 55, I registered him for a defensive driving session.
Following that, a number of people have mentioned to me that they've just turned 55, too. However, for some reason, they're not all pounding down the door to take the driving class.
One of them told me that she's just not quite ready to admit that she's reached that particular milestone. Actually, it's kind of like in the driving class, when the instructor explains why the right rear view mirror is labeled "objects may be closer than they appear."
Hey, I can relate to that.
On the day I'm writing this, it's the 15th anniversary of the birth of my first child, Martin. Son No. 2, Roger, arrived two years later.
I became a parent at an older-than-average age. (Of course Don was much, much older than I was.)
All my life, I'd kept a running narration in my head, detailing events as I perceived them.
When Roggie was about 7 months old, that narration became this column.
I selected the name "Puppy Dog Tales" because the old snippet, that boys are made of "snakes and snails and puppy dog tales" is one of the first things I can remember my dad saying when I was little.
(The part about girls - that we're made of "sugar and spice and everything nice," was what I really liked to hear.)
Over my boys' growing years, I've had many people respond to what I've written, because so many people can relate to raising little ones.
Sometimes, too, I hear from people who don't relate, but I think that by and large our community members and readers are very family-based, very connected, very able to put themselves in others' shoes.
Someone who knows my kids well recently suggested that this column's title needs a makeover, an upgrade to a new name to reflect our family members' actual ages.
After all, the boys could probably easily be mistaken for adults, since Roger's now scraping the finish off the 6-foot height mark on the closet door.
But hey, everyone's got their own view of reality. Think, for example, of your favorite Sunday cartoon, and how it's probably changed very little over the years.
People enjoy familiarity, and we can all understand how the passage of time often just doesn't seem possible.
Sometimes - particularly when the boys are truly acting out the stereotype of teenagers - I visualize that it won't be long until they're packing their bags for college.
On other days - though I'm less able to share details here than I used to be for fear of them being hassled by classmates - they show their true ages, and really, they're a long way from being truly grown up.
Aren't we all a little bit that way, denying the passage of time even as it marches past?
I see my high school classmates in town, and I think, "It can't have been 30 years, can it?" Of course we all look exactly the same as we did then.
Though the world may have evolved, and I might leap forward with technology and take these thoughts to the Internet with a blog or social network, the people involved are still much the same.
Plus, I'm stumped for a new column title which would have an appealing play on words.
So for now, you'll still find us under "Puppy Dog Tales." Like my friend who's not quite ready for defensive driving, you might be able to correct our vision, but you won't be able to do much about our depth perception.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Article comment by:
Beth Janu
I THINK YOU SHOULD KEEP THE SAME TITLE FOR YOUR WEEKLY ARTICLE.THIS IS HOW IT ALL STARTED AND HOW YOU WILL BE REMEMBERED.WHY FIX IT IF ITS NOT BROKE? ITS GOOD, ITS ALL GOOD!! BETH
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