chaplin

Monday, October 13, 2008

Kids do the darndest things


When your children are small you spend all your time making sure they don't wander into the road or bash their head on the corner of that table. Eventually they leave home and actively seek out danger. When our son was on his gap year he sent me a text message from Brazil. It read:
"This afternoon I'm going hang gliding over Rio. It looks dangerous but it's cheap. P.S. Don't tell Mum until I'm down."
Now he's at university in Sao Paulo. We spoke on Friday. "This weekend I think I'm going sky diving," he said. There's no point saying "don't do that." There's not even much point saying "please do that safely". You just say "let me know the minute you're down" and spend the next 24 hours knotted up with anxiety. Eventually we got a picture.

2 comments:

  1. Trust me, you will have your revenge.

    There was a time when I could announce my intention to live in the Yemen Republic for a few months and my parents heads would fill up with all kinds of terrible scenarios.

    Now the wheel of karma has turned full circle and it is my aging parents who terrify me: For example, by consuming an omelette that my mother made from eggs that were over a month out of date.

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  2. Fabio says he's wants to live with "mummy and daddy" for ever. I think, on reflection, this might be a good idea...

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