Eager Anticipation

One of the traits that I admire in children is their ability to over flow with eager anticipation. I’m afraid that many adults loose that important potential energy as life wears them down into meaningless rituals that neither gratify or inspire; how unfortunate.

We planned to take our children on a vacation to Big Bend National Park one year. We showed them maps and pictures months in advance and as the time grew ever closer we had them help with putting supplies into boxes, rolling up sleeping bags and things like that. “Next week we will take our trip”, “Only a couple of days ‘till we go” and finally, “We leave for Big Bend today.” What we hadn’t explained to them was that we would be leaving at night.

All day long the kids were bursting with excitement as if we were taking the space shuttle down there. The truck was loaded, gassed up and ready; so why were we not on the road as the sun sank below the horizon. “A little while longer and we’ll go” didn’t sit well with them. The evening wore on slowly and tears began to fall when we had them get into their pajamas.

“But, you said we were going on vacation…”, sniffles and choking back tears as best they could. Then came the accusations, “You lied to us; why else would we be in our pajamas?” Lucy and I could hardly keep from laughing as we loaded them all into the truck and explained that they would be able to sleep in the truck WHILE we were on the way to Big Bend. It took several miles of driving to convince them that the vacation had begun; each mile away from their house was a mile toward the promised vacation. Their smiles returned along with their eager anticipation for the unknown which lay ahead.

Saturday Lucy and I were on our date enjoying a meal at the local Steak & Ale. Some how the topic of our grand kids came up, “Surprise surprise!”, as Gomer Pyle would say. Imagine grandparents talking about their grandchildren over dinner. We had observed that when JJ, almost 5, was playing on the computer that his younger sister, Jocelyne, just over a year old, watched every move he made. Jocelyne was fascinated with the mouse and began picking it up and waiting for the computer to respond to her desires. One day soon Jocelyne will figure it out and a new world will be opened unto her. With proper guidelines that will only include those areas of life which are uplifting and beneficial.

It occurred to me that I’d read a book many years ago, A gnome there was,: And other tales of science fiction and fantasy, by Henry Kuttner, which featured a story about a “toy box” that had been found by a young boy, a box which contained fascinating and yet unfamiliar items. They were in fact, teaching tools from the future which had either been misplaced or intentionally sent out; it’s been quite some time since I read the book.

One of the items was a clear box or sphere which would materialize simple thoughts. The boy imagined a house under construction and it appeared with little people scurrying about hammering, sawing and framing the house. He imagined the house catching fire and a patch of smoke appeared; the need for firemen to put out the fire and so on.

Another item looked like an abacus and by properly moving the beads it would sing or hum pleasantly. When he moved them in some order other than that which would lead toward the right “answer”, an electrical shock would correct such errors.

The young boy was totally engaged with these “toys” and found, to his amazement, that his little sister was able to work them much more efficiently; not having been locked into any particular regimented thinking process. The two would play for hours in their room while their parents enjoyed the peaceful moments. I won’t give away what happens in the story; but will only say that I was reminded that sometimes the younger open minded child will solve problems more easily than those who have been hammered by traditional thinking.

When Lucy and I returned home from our night out I got on line and looked to see if the book was still available. I found two copies available through Amazon.com; both used, one in very good condition which I purchased. I should have it some time next week.

I await, with eager anticipation mind you, the opportunity to share the stories contained within the bindings with my grandchildren. It is my hope that by hearing well written Sci-fi fantasy stories that they will develop a desire to improve and grow.