For Linda’s #SoCS
So far we have invented fire and the wheel.
OK, so we didn’t actually invent fire. It was here already and we happened to notice it and figure out that it was useful in the preparation of hamburgers. And really, when you think about it, we didn’t invent the wheel either because, in a way, it was already here as well. We just noticed how round rocks roll down hills and took the idea from there. The rest (dare I say it?) is history.
The real talent we have, then, is noticing things.
I noticed a lump on my left arm yesterday. It’s not very big. You have to get up really close to it to notice it at all. So I did. I think the little ones might be more deadly than the big ones, for some reason. I spent the rest of the day wondering if I should see the doctor. I decided not to because either she will tell me it’s nothing and I will feel like an idiot or she’ll tell me that it’s terminal cancer. I don’t want her to tell me either of these things. This is an example of male cowardice and stupidity.
Assuming then, that I have six months to live, it’s difficult not to be a little underwhelmed with what we’ve achieved, so far. Fire and the wheel are all that I have come up with and, on a personal level, I can’t really claim to have had much to do with either of them. Though I might have noticed them first if I had gotten here early enough.
We abolished slavery too. Sort of. It’s astonishing how long we took to notice that.
But I had nothing to do with abolishing slavery, either. I’ve never even seen a slave. Although sometimes I wonder what the arrangements were with my mother.
So now, with the number of heartbeats left to me severely curtailed by the lump on my left arm I can’t help thinking that my contribution down here on the planet, so far, has been a bit of a disappointment. I didn’t invent fire or the wheel or abolish slavery. It’s as though I haven’t really noticed anything at all.
Oh well.
But you have been noticed… Would that count in any way? 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmmm …. I don’t know. Those who have noticed can be counted on one hand. But I’ve noticed them too. That probably counts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
I’m not sure abolishing slavery should count. Humans also invented it, so those two points probably cancel each other out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah. Fair point. Forget what I said about slavery.
LikeLike
But, you know. … for the one’s that invented it. …. it must have seemed like a fantastic idea.
LikeLike
ah but we found each other … surely that counts!
Go and get the jolly lump cut out and you will be around to notice something else … please dad?
LikeLike
The sweet concern of a daughter. I am touched.
LikeLiked by 1 person
please dad …
LikeLike
Don’t make me cry.
LikeLiked by 1 person
grown men don’t cry … or eat quiche! Get it together …
LikeLike
Geeez … I have a vulnerable moment and you put the boot in! That comes from your mother’s side of the family.
LikeLiked by 1 person
deal with it dad, we’re family after all … thought that was what we were supposed to do? Did i get it wrong …
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was expecting some sort of transition period …. this ‘reuniting’ is a bit new to all 3 of us. It takes time to adjust. It goes without saying, I hope, that whist our love was pure and magical, you understand that there may have been a few misunderstandings between your mother and I. The repayments on the VW, for example, and her ‘study group’ with Duncan, the vacuum cleaner salesman.
There’s some stuff to work through and I had rather hoped (as young and impressionable as you may be) that you would cut a little slack whilst we get things back on track.
LikeLiked by 1 person
ok ok but Mum told me about Norma Jean, Betty May and Louise … seems like you knew her whole tennis club so there are faults on both sides … neither of you were saints! So guess your lump could have arisen from all the memories this reunion has brought on so suddenly … probably just a temporary purification for all those bumps you gave others?
LikeLike
Well … I’d like to think I gave them more than ‘bumps’ but it is all a long time ago. I was better at tennis then too.
I think that the few indiscretions of your parents might best be overlooked by you, at least for now. Life can get complicated and I will explain it all to you when you are a bit older. For now just concentrate on your studies. I have a feeling that you may do very well in the nursing profession
LikeLiked by 1 person
thanks but I’m already a micro-biologist ….
LikeLike
Fun, witty post. You should get that bump on your arm (if you really do have a bump on your arm) looked at. I had a small, innocuous-looking bump on my forehead and it turned out to be cancer. But they caught it in time and now it (the bump and the cancer) is gone.
LikeLike
Fear not. My body is already a mine field.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a clever daughter I have! Your mother was always a good thinker too.
LikeLike
You know, there are many possibilities between “nothing” and “terminal cancer”.
LikeLike
Yes, I believe so, but it was a stream of conscience thingo and I may not have been properly weighing up all the possibilities.
LikeLike