Every year, we stay in the same house, a big rambling old house, with a gigantic wraparound porch, perched on the edge of a huge hill that leads down to the lake. Our family has grown exponentially this year, with three new members, and we move in and TAKE OVER. We have been going there for years now and there are many precious memories wrapped up in this house. And there are still things to discover. My sister Jean found a jigsaw puzzle upstairs and told her daughter Lucy to “go give it to Auntie She-She.” (That would be me.) So little Lucy approached, and handed me the box, not sure why I would want the puzzle, but doing what her mother said. And it was an Elvis jigsaw puzzle. A black and white photo of Elvis in the 1950s, with the greasy ducktail and the one curl over his forehead, and a sweet snarl on his lips.
Lucy was fascinated by the fact that I was interested in it. She looked at the photo of Elvis.
“Is that a girl?” she asked (which I thought was FASCINATING. The gender-bendy Elvis shadow lengthens through the decades! He is still confusing people!)
I said, “No, honey, that’s a boy. He was a famous singer.”
Lucy looked slightly sad and cautious and said, “Is he dead?” (In tune with the past tense, meaning she’s a wicked smartypants.)
“Yes.”
She thought about it. She asked, “Did he have a family, She-She?” She seemed worried.
I said, “Yes. He has a daughter who is around my age, and she’s doing great.” (I didn’t want her to be worried about anyone, least of all Lisa Marie Presley.)
She thought about that. “Was there a Mommy?”
“Yes, there was!”
More thinking, more worrying. “Is she dead?”
“No, honey. She’s alive and well, too.”
Then Lucy asked, “Was he a friend of yours?” and my entire family started laughing.
And basically the puzzle was too hard for us to do. It was all black and white, so you couldn’t even group the colors together, and his face was made up of a mosaic of tiny little Elvis faces and newspaper clippings, etc., and they all looked the same. Lucy and I tried to work on it for about 10 minutes and then both got bored.
But Elvis stayed scattered on the table for the entirety of the week, in case anyone felt like working on it.
Your conversation with your niece is so interesting. About two months ago, my son (age 4, soon 5) heard an Elvis song on the radio, and has been obsessed ever since. It’s amazing to watch, really. He wanted to know if Elvis was ever sent to the principal’s office in school, and many other random things. He has had his hair styled like Elvis, and for a week panicked when changing his clothes that his Elvis hair would get messed up. A new generation of Elvis fans are being born!
// He wanted to know if Elvis was ever sent to the principal’s office in school, and many other random things. He has had his hair styled like Elvis, and for a week panicked when changing his clothes that his Elvis hair would get messed up. //
That is so adorable!!
What was the song your son heard on the radio?
I think it must have been “Don’t be Cruel”