out of the mouths of babes
The other day my 5 year-old decided to draw a portrait of me. She got her colored-pencil box and some fancy card-stock (from the secret stash in her big sister’s closet) then set to serious work drawing my face. She’d draw a few lines, then look up at me, draw a few more, look up again … with a furrowed brow, gazing hard, and then hunch over the paper, her canvas, to carefully draw some more. It took her quite a while to finish this masterpiece … faces are difficult to draw and she wanted to get it just right.
“There,” she said, when it was complete. She pushed the page across the kitchen table. I was a tad nervous; no one had ever done my portrait before. I turned the card around, right side up, and there it was - Gogol’s nose in the middle of my face.
“Wow, that’s a big nose,” I said (immediately regretting what she might perceive as criticism).
“Yeah,” she declared, “you have a big nose.”
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Hi Joan,
Over the last two days I’ve read your entire blog, and most of the comments. It has been the most wonderful mix of reading I’ve done in a long time. I don’t remember how I came across it. Probably a Google search on some running topic. I started running in April of this year at the ripe age of 45 having no running experience apart from soccer in high school. I’m now running about 20 miles a week and have raced four 5k’s (sub 30:00), and a 4 miler (35:22). My wife says I’m obsessive, any runner I talk to thinks not. What intrigued me is the importance you place on your family time and how vital it is. I have a just turned 5 year old son and a 7 year old daughter. I think it’s apparent I enjoy running, and I do get impatient for another weekend long run. Your writing is a reminder that our kids deserve quality time and nothing should get in it’s way. Don’t misunderstand, I schedule my running so as not to interfere with family events. The kids just finished baseball and swimming season and I was always there as assistant coach or volunteer. “No wet oatmeal kisses” and ” Where are you goin’ my little one, little one?” are posted on my desk as reminders.
Thanks, Lance
p.s. Having an Olympian in the same state less than 200 miles away is great. Can osmosis reach that far??
Sorry this was off topic
Comment by Lance — 8/3/2006 @ 2:19 pm
And that’s not a big nose.
They are two beautiful blue eyes that I hope your little one captured!
Best of luck in those beautiful blue shoes too. Now I know why you’d look forward to cramming your poor feet into something as uncomfortable as a track spike. — BLUE –
Comment by John — 8/3/2006 @ 2:50 pm
Joan has a tiny nose. I see it a few times a week.
Comment by Marion — 8/3/2006 @ 8:34 pm
haha! your nose looks about right to me though. do you have the pic she drew?
Comment by mis_nomer — 8/4/2006 @ 3:30 am
Here you go, mis_nomer!
The original big-nose drawing:
Comment by Joan — 8/6/2006 @ 5:17 pm
It is big.. and purely on a professional level it appears that upon closer inspection that you suffer from spoonezia..The affliction is usually caused by sticking spoons in your nose in order to sneeze. It results in a rotund, bulbous appearance and is only cured by a nose job.. But who has that kind of money ?
Comment by Shake — 8/7/2006 @ 10:19 am