MY CONTINUING EDUCATION

One of the many great benefits of being raised by my wonderful parents was the devotion they focused on their children’s education both academically and personally. They made whatever sacrifices were necessary of their time and finances to instill in us a thirst for knowledge and presented us with ample opportunities to quench that thirst. My mother started reading to me when I was three years old. By the age of five I was reading on my own and, unlike many of my peers, I never stopped. Fortunately, I grew up in an era when books were the dominant means of gratifying diversion. There was no bombardment of social networks, video games and various other mindless distractions. The television was reserved for baseball games, ‘I Love Lucy’ and ‘The Honeymooners’. All comedies considering that the baseball games involved the Chicago Cubs.
Now, as a 64 year old fossil, I have a child of my own…a baby girl named Bailey. In addition to being a source of unrelenting joy, she has also proven that it is possible to teach an old dog some new tricks. And, I say that as someone who has never been particularly fond of dogs.She has opened up the portal into a chamber of my mind that I never knew existed...a chamber of unrelenting delights. Bailey was born on April Fool’s Day and, right from the get go, manifested the spirit of that day. It was a long and painful delivery for my wife because the little rascal repeatedly poked her head out and then went back in. Perhaps, she is something of a prodigy like her father who was due to be born on the 1st of February and didn’t pop out until the 10th of March. Life was pretty damn good on the inside. Watching her evolve physically and emotionally during the past eleven months has been an enormous education for me and one from which I have gleaned at least as much knowledge as I ever did from academic pursuits. She is a fascinating book that keeps writing itself…a play that adds a new act every day. However, reference to that metaphor does rouse a slight degree of umbrage.
My wife (Nak) is Bailey’s public relations agent. Nak has taken hundreds of photos and videos. Many of them have been posted to various social networking sites. I only use such sites to promote my writing but, when Nak ‘shares’ her photos & videos on my sites, the writing is ignored. I post brilliant essays and pieces of humor that are regularly upstaged by a goo-goo, gah-gah baby with a minimally developed brain who knows zippo about Hegel’s ‘Phenomenology of Mind’. I mean, what is this world coming to? Then there’s Kant’s ‘Critique of Pure Reason’ which, by the way, I wrote my university thesis on. Still, the little upstart continues to upstage me. I mean, what is this world coming to? Or, did I already ask that question? And one more thing…I don’t want to hear any objections about the word “brilliant” being used to describe my work. It’s my work so, who’s in a better position to judge it than me? If I say it’s “brilliant” then, so be it. Any objections to the contrary are simply…well, they’re simply not objective. Fair is fair for christsake!
I hear a sweet murmur. My wife believes it’s Bailey’s attempt at song. When I turn to see the child smiling at me, my soul resonates with the lyrical sentiments of another song:
“The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn:
God’s in his heaven—
All’s right with the world!”

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