There may be other families who have similar stories to tell – but this is a short story about an O’Malley thing – an O’Malley “thing” being passed on to the next generation. I’m proud of it.<\/p>\n
My nephew Cashel is 6.<\/p>\n
He got 5,891 presents for Christmas – because of “the aunties” (me and my sisters) – and all of the adults in his life who basically love him to pieces.<\/p>\n
One of the things I gave him he was not too thrilled by. Or – I think he was a bit overwhelmed by the thousands of presents he had received, and had a hard time taking it all in. He could only focus on one or two things. (I know just how he feels.)<\/p>\n
Anyway – I bought him two Play Mobile guys (member those?) – and they were two little Revolutionary War Minute Men – and there’s a cannon, two cannon balls, and one horse. And a bucket for the horse.<\/p>\n
I feared this would not attract his attention because of his overwhelming interest in Star Wars and Harry Potter, and I was right. Originally. He could not have cared less.<\/p>\n
But two days later, I called home and talked with my mom. In the background, I could basically hear the sounds of some kind of war going on, running up and down the hallway. Explosions, etc. Our house was under attack?<\/p>\n
“What’s going on over there?” I asked.<\/p>\n
“Oh, Cashel is playing with your two soldiers. It appears that … a battle from the Revolutionary War is taking place in our hallway.”<\/p>\n
“He’s playing with them? That’s great!”<\/p>\n
“I think one of them is Paul Revere. He appears to be fighting in the battles as well.”<\/p>\n
“That is so cute.” (Burst of pride in my heart that Cashel knows of the existence of Paul Revere.)<\/p>\n
Then my mom said: “He knows about Paul Revere because of Longfellow.”<\/p>\n
Let me repeat that:<\/p>\n
My nephew Cashel knows about Paul Revere not because of a movie, or because he learned about it in school – but because we, as a family, have read to him Longfellow’s great poem “Paul Revere’s Ride”. That poem is in the legacy of our family – and it has turned him on to the possibilities of the Revolutionary War as imaginary material.<\/p>\n
This is the legacy of being an O’Malley.<\/p>\n
The printed word comes first. <\/i><\/p>\n
I think that Longfellow would be pleased!!<\/p>\n
Here’s my description of reading that poem to Cashel one night<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There may be other families who have similar stories to tell – but this is a short story about an O’Malley thing – an O’Malley “thing” being passed on to the next generation. I’m proud of it. My nephew Cashel … Continue reading