The Post That Never Was
— I was going to write a Monday post as usual, till Soul Shelter’s Resident Baby (my eleven-month-old son) invoked the following dialogue and helped me see the light –
-Resident Baby: Daddy?
-Hm?
-RB: Are you still here, Daddy?
-Mm-hm, I’m right here. Why?
-RB: You’re looking at that thing again.
-Hm?
-RB: That thing. You’re staring into it and going click-click-click, pressing all those buttons.
-Oh, my laptop? Sorry. I’ll be finished in a minute. Just wanted to type some ideas.
-RB: But I wanna go for a walk in the stroller.
-OK, in a minute.
-RB: It’s sunny outside.
-I know, I’ve just got this Soul Shelter post to write …
-RB: Soul Shelter?
-Yeah, it’s a blog.
-RB: I want to play choo-choo train. Or have story-time together. Or maybe you could build a living room tent for me?
-OK, mm-hm, when I’m finished here we’ll go for a walk or build a tent or whatever you want.
-RB: A tent. That’s what I want.
-A tent it is … as soon as I’ve typed this thought.
Resident Baby plays quietly with his plastic train. He flops over onto his belly and tries to eat my slipper. He yanks one of his socks off and stuffs it into his mouth.
…Click-click-click.
-RB: Vumz-im-rmph-bow.
-Did you say something?
-RB: Sorry. Had my sock in my mouth. I said, What’s it about?
-Hm?
-RB: Soul Tent.
-Oh, Soul Shelter, you mean?
-RB: Right. Freudian slip.
-It’s about striking a balance, I guess. Like how to locate fulfillment in one’s life and one’s work, both at once.
-RB: Mm, fulfillment…
-Do you know that word?
-RB: Mm-hm.
-Really? So how would you define it?
-RB: That’s easy: Mommy-time. Or … a comfy blanket. Or a cracker and a cup of juice. Or a turn in the bright blue bucket swing at the park. Or, say … a living room tent.
-Smooth, the way you worked that in at the end there.
-RB: (shrugs) I’m a baby. We know what we like.
-You do indeed. You should write this post.
-RB: I can’t write, Daddy. Or read. Come to think of it, I can’t even speak in words yet.
-That makes you no less of a teacher, my wise little one.
-RB: Mm. And that you imagine my voice makes my message no less true.
-Exactly.
-RB: So can we get cracking on that tent now?
-All righty (chuckling), do you want the entrance to be north- or south-facing?
The laptop clicks shut.
-RB: Now we’re talking!
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2 Comments to The Post That Never Was
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[...] post of the week is The Post That Never Was from Soul Shelter. It discusses a conversation Mark, one of the blog’s author, has with his [...]