White Lightning Axiom: Redux

So, Jake wanders into the bedroom where I'm still trying to shake off another restless night of sleep. He comes over to my side of the bed and whispers: "Daddy, I want to play some more chess, please." Ghaaa. My attempt at exposing him to higher strategy has backfired in the most awful way. Monday night, I got out the marble chess set that Big Little Brother had given me as a Christmas Present nearly 20 years ago. I set up the pieces and explained to Jovial Jake what each piece does. He gravitated towards the Knights but he mimicked my standard pawn opening moves. Here is the rough part; I gave him no quarter. After the 3rd loss, he was quite upset that I kept taking all his pieces. He was a bit watery eyed, but I explained to him that if he kept playing, he would get better and better and some day, he would take all my pieces. I want to make sure that he is a gracious winner as well as a good loser. Having nobility in success and failure is something that is not really taught these days. You see, everyone gets to be a 'winner' so nobody gets their feelings hurt. So, I hurt his feelings but explained to him that it can be ok to loose as long as you try your hardest. In successive games, I showed him how he could put me into check so as to force me to give up pieces ... he was quite giddy to have a modicum of power over his father even if it did not involve fists. After a bit, I let him know it was time for bed ... which lead to the morning confrontation. On top of that, I gave him that book; Dangerous Book for Boys ... he was THRILLED. So much so that he insisted that I teach him to read 'RIGHT NOW!'. Heh, let's try the little words first buddy.

We had quite a rain storm yesterday afternoon. If the rain came down any harder, it would have left dents in the roadways from the kinetic energy dissipation. Spot flooding was inevitable, Noah was dusting off his tools. Indeed, this only happened because I left my car windows open a crack so the interior would not be molten. Somehow, the rain radically changed direction to a horizontal vector as it neared my POS Saturn and the drivers seat was completely saturated within minutes. Nothing like driving with a 'moist' seat. When I did manage to pound through traffic and get to the Day Care/ReEducation Camp, I found a woman and her two small children woefully gazing out the front door ... probably watching to see when her car would float away. She was wearing Hospital Scrubs and I knew that the only material more transparent when wet would be one of those Hollywood sheer gowns that the 'Beautiful People' like to flaunt their bodies about in. Not something you want your children to observe though. So, the gracious being that I am, I offered to escort her and her children to their car. It worked out well except she got a bit wet on the back of her blouse. The kids were dry ... mostly. I had to grab her daughter's hand and lift her over Lake Superior when we got to the parked car. There was about 2 inches of standing water in the lot at the time. My boots are still wet. Smelly too. No matter, I did my best to reverse the karmic slide I've been on lately. Maybe I'll get to sleep in this weekend ... fat chance.

Finally, I found this somewhere ... but lost the source. The wise words of Kahlil Gibran:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

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Labels: Chess, Children, NorEaster, Traffic, Weather