ONE QUESTION, ONE ANSWER, OR . . .

Ask one question, just one, and if you know each other, things start clicking, woman or man.

If you don’t know each other? Good luck. Maybe don’t ask anything.

It’s not any particular question we’re talking about; it could be anything.

 

“Is that a new car?”

Click, click, click:  It’s a lease, a long-term rental, but yes it is a new car and new to me so the answer is yes, it’s a new car to improve my status with the best backseat to get in and out of in its class.

 

“Yes, it is.”

 

“Did you enjoy your weekend?”

Click, click, click: Didn’t get a kayak on the water, walk the flower trail in West Linn, design a playground piece, clean the car toothbrush clean, organize a load in the garage, storage space, desk, table, what a cluster fuck.

 

“Yes, thank you, it was nice.”

 

One Question: Why?

Father’s of sons have a particular responsibility to raise competent people.

We’ve all seen the results of the other stuff, the incompetent making decisions that screw things up, then additional decisions to cover the screw up, until it all starts spinning into the same stream of ‘huh?’

One day the old man climbs a cliff and dives off headfirst into unknown water while the children watch to see if they come up or not, whether they’re paralyzed for being so stupid to dive headfirst into unknown water in the first place like he warned them against doing from their first swimming lesson, ‘don’t dive headfirst into unknown water, boys. Don’t be stupid.’

And ever since then the cliff has grown and grown.

 

 

I remember diving into the pools of Silver Falls after a hard rain filled them up and I dodged old stumps and widow makers while flying through the cool air without drowning or getting paralyzed.

Even better was climbing the rocks in the Columbia Gorge to find obscure waterfalls for diving thrills you can only find by challenging the elements, good sense, and the ability to believe.

 

 

If you read between the lines, what I said was avoid trying to prove things already proven.

Be a competent person?

Be a willing partner in marriage?

Spend time with kids?

And that’s not enough?

 

Baby Boomer Blogger Brain Insight

Since we’re all in it for the long haul, the longest possible, we weigh and measure each life-altering decision.

Dear Millennials,

The older people grow, the more they think each incoming breath could be a life-altering moment that needs a decision to be made now, right now, or else it might be their last breath.

Sincerely,

All boomer parents with anxious kids

The important thing to remember is your next breath won’t be your last, and neither will the one after that.

Like soldiers in battle, you won’t hear it coming, but others will take note of not hearing anything.

‘He was here, then he wasn’t.’

As long as we’re here, keep going, keep rolling, and give good answers because we’re old enough to look like we’ve exhausted all questions and ought to know more.

 

PS:

If you feel limited by education and the ability to learn new things, remember all of the looney stuff you grew up with that no one younger than fifty have heard about.

Your job is to make recollection relevant today.

Your own grandparents might not seem old to you, but now that you’re older than they were, think how old they must seem to your grandkids.

Tell ’em what you remember.

 

PSS:

If you don’t remember much, find someone who does.

(Hey Uncle Richard, I’ll be in town next month and stopping by.)

Blog magic right here.