Had a long phone conversation with my now-6-year-old nephew Cashel, on Thanksgiving day. He’s not really a phone person, so I clearly caught him in a good place … and bombarded him with questions.<\/p>\n
With Cashel, everything must be content-oriented. And by that I mean, if you ask him a question, “How are you?” you’re gonna get NOTHING in response. But if you say, “So tell me your response to ‘Finding Nemo'” – you will get a 10-minute-long in-depth monologue about the pros and cons of the film, and a little compare-and-contrast with other Pixel classics …<\/p>\n
It’s hilarious. So I always ask him about what movies he’s seen.<\/p>\n
He and Brendan had gone to Lego-Land. He raved about it to me.<\/p>\n
“So, Cashel, what was the best part for you about Lego-Land?”<\/p>\n
He contemplated this important question. I could FEEL him pondering it, through the phone lines.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, Cashel said flatly, “The life-size Darth Vader. Made all out of Legos.”<\/p>\n
“Of course. Tell me all about it, please.”<\/p>\n
And so Cashel did.<\/p>\n
It’s so funny – Cashel’s personality, to my eyes, is so HUGE, in person. He is unavoidable. He has this white head of hair, he is very articulate, he has hand gestures, he is very emphatic and specific … his personality is huge. So it is so funny to me, so jarring, to hear how LITTLE his voice is over the phone. It’s a teeny mouse-voice. I want to squeeze him so tight that he cries out for mercy.<\/p>\n
He and Brendan also went to Sea World.<\/p>\n
“I got to feed some dolphins.” Then, to make sure that he didn’t exaggerate his role in this activity, Cashel clarified, “Well, Auntie Sheila, what I did was – I put the food on top of the water … and the dolphins could see it from underneath … and then they would come up and get it.”<\/p>\n
At one point, Cashel dissolved into hysterical laughter, and said to me, “Isn’t the word ‘INSANE’ so funny<\/i>, Auntie Sheila? Isn’t it so funny<\/i> to call someone ‘insane’? ‘You’re INSANE<\/i>.'” Cashel broke up into hilarious guffaws.<\/p>\n
I had to agree. “Insane” is a very funny word. Especially when said in this surprisingly little mouse-voice across 3000 miles.<\/p>\n
Cashel was … beyond shocked that it was my birthday. A whole new world opened up for him. A world of unimagined discoveries. Grownups have birthdays too<\/i>. Auntie Sheila has a birthday.<\/i> At first, when he heard the news, I was greeted with absolute dead silence from the other end. I could, again, feel him processing the news. Trying to fit it into his world-view.<\/p>\n
Then, thrilled, excited, he turned around and shrieked at Brendan, “It’s Auntie Sheila’s birthday today!!!!” (Yes, he actually spoke with exclamation points. I could hear them.)<\/p>\n
I heard Brendan say in the background, “I know!”<\/p>\n
Immediately, Cashel launched into song. Singing “Happy Birthday” to me, over the phone.<\/p>\n
The sound of his voice singing was so adorable, and so excited, and so vulnerable … that I thought my heart would crack. Perhaps it did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Had a long phone conversation with my now-6-year-old nephew Cashel, on Thanksgiving day. He’s not really a phone person, so I clearly caught him in a good place … and bombarded him with questions. With Cashel, everything must be content-oriented. … Continue reading