OUR ELDER SON -- SOME THOUGHTS

Marc, the Eulogist

Marc.  A story.  A real one.  The Crepe...NO,NOT THE CREEP!  I nearly let that one get away from me.  This is the guy who looked so much like me when he was a baby that we had a picture of me on the mantle.  Everyone who would look at it would exclaim, "Marc is really good looking!"  Would I soak that up or what?  I could never get away with  that now...Oh NO.
It's better that I get back to the real reason why I have decided to give you some thoughts about our two boys.  It is striking to me that when I reflect on the things that these two guys did when they were young I ask myself why I am seeing now what I should have seen then.  It would have had some kind of clue about what my old age with them would be.  The thing the really gets me is that I was already deep into my fourth decade as I was observing them. Talk about being blind.  I like thinking about  them now because it is set into a deeper corner of happiness than it was then.  I like the story about the PBS television series, "The Miracle of Life", yep, that miracle.  I think that they must have watched that show two dozen times as they were growing up.  I mean, they were little guys when they started watching that.  Belle and I would wonder what our old fashioned parents would have done about what we took as as an important part of our children's maturing process.  Marc was the leader.  He is the elder, so he leads, and he does it well.  He even leads me.
Marc is also the Eulogist.  He has eulogized his grandfather and here he is seen eulogizing his grandmother.  He and his younger brother both have another side to them.  Go here and see what I mean.
The story that got me going here is the one about the first cooking project that Marc decided he would do.  He was going to make a crepe dinner for me and his younger brother while Mama was on travel.  He had been captured by the prospect while watching a cooking show...before the Food Network, and yes, it was PBS again.  One miracle after the other.  I don't think he was yet ten.  He had memorized the ingredient list despite the fact that some of the required food was rather sophisticated.  Especially for a nine year old boy.  I stayed cool and supportive without making any remarks about the more unusual ingredients.  So we settled into the family car and glided over to the super market.  Around and around the aisles we went, not just looking for our needs, but actually shopping. I tell you, this little guy was very sensitive to the prices.  I was in awe of his sensitivity to the cost of certain items.  I could not fathom where he had learned how to discern the relative value of things.  It was quite an experience for me.  Finally, he was happy with his materials.  We checked out and headed back home.
I will spare you the horrors of reliving the strain that his effort put on the kitchen.  In the end, the crepes were a resounding success.  Yes, they were.  They are in fact getting better with age.  He did well...  I did too.  I did not grouse about the upheaved kitchen with the million pots, pans, dishes and what-ever-else was strewn all over the place.  I just smiled inside myself, and hoped that whatever lesson had to be learned, had indeed been learned.  He took an encore when Mama came back.  That too was a culinary triumph, but accompanied by a much more melodramatic production surrounding the after effects on the kitchen.  He cooked again after that, but only when it was just "us guys".
He continues to be an excellent cook.  He is a very artistic person around the kitchen.  It is his way of giving of himself to those he loves.  It makes me happy just thinking about it.  You should meet him someday.