Ever I wonder how my 6-year-old nephew, whom I gave the nic-name "Obo" to, would grade me? Does my good outweigh my bad?
Let's take a look...
Good: I took Obo to Wild Waves.
Even better: I took Obo to Wild Waves a second time, this time with sandals so my "soft feet" didn't get excessively cut up and I cried like a little baby.
Cool, just startin' off here and I'm already up 2 to 0, my good outweighing my bad. Hehe, let's see if that trend continues...
Bad: I lied to one of the ride operators and let Obo, who can't swim go down the cannonball ride, where he had to rescued by one of the Wild Waves operators. Okay, I STILL feel bad about this. But I did it with the idea that I'd do first then help Obo get out of the deep water. But how it played out, was after I did the cannonball ride, which is short water slide followed by about a six foot drop, they you land in a pool about 10' deep; I waited for Obo to come down, but when he did splash down a Wild Waves guide waved me off and went in after Obo himself, getting Obo out of the deep water with a red floatation device.
This was a major bad on my part, lapse of judgement. So why'd I'd do it? I was trying to have fun with Obo, challenge the boy a little.
Good: Took Obo for a walk today out in the woods outside our property.
Bad: The path we went on was overgrown and Obo started crying when he got scratched by the blackberry thorns and other nasty overgrowth. Had to abort the walk vowing NEVER to take Obo on another walk, as I wanted him to tough it out and use a stick to push the brush out of the way.
Point of clarification: This 6 year old nephew of mine spends WAAAY to much time inside playing video games. Remembering how when I was kid I used to do all kinds of whack-o shit: exploring the sides of hills, the Carbon river, and any local attraction he had; I feel I need to get this little kid outside and doing things. Times have truly changed. Kids are different. They're not as adventurous as I remember myself being when I was young.
Good: On Labor Day I raced Obo ten times. I had just bought a brand new, # 11 Percy Harvin, Seattle Seahawk jersey and I rigged most of the races we had so which ever one of us was wearing the Percy Harvin jersey won the race. Thus I was trying to sow the seed in this little boy's mind that NOBODY is faster than Percy Harvin, and that even a replica jersey of his can MAKE a person faster than he would be without the jersey. So there's some good and bad in play here. But when you pay $150 for a jersey you should get as much mileage out of a jersey as possible, which leads me to...
Bad: ol' E.C. would manipulate a 6-year-old child JUST so he could feel like he was getting his money's worth out of a clothing purchase.
Bad: Last Christmass while at the Tacoma Mall I told Obo to pull on Santa's beard to see if it was real. THIS was one of those in-mall Santa's, and to preface the event Obo was accompanying me with the intent of helping me shop for Christmas presents. At first he was all crazy about seeing Santa, but alas Obo lost his nerve when push came to shove and he saw the in-mall Santa Claus and the other kids who were waiting.
Bad: Sometimes when I'm writing and Obo comes in my room wanting to play, I try to discourage him so I can get back to the task at hand. Writing over family: bad E.C. Henry.
Bad: Getting Obo to laugh over the fact that a dwarf: the now 80 year old, Kenny Baker, is inside R2D2 in all the "Star Wars" movies. He's even part of the cast in J.J. Abrams "Star Wars: Episode VII". All these years I NEVER thought there was an actor inside the barrel of R2D2--but there was! I even joked to Obo how funny it would be if in the middle of a scene Kenny Baker popped out of the top, and waved to everybody and said with a smile, "Hello everybody, I'm a midget!" Later, Obo and I actually did watch the first "Star Wars" movie and retroactively Obo acted on my joke and started making cracks about the dwarf inside R2D2 popping out and doing just I said. He was laughing too. E.C. Henry having fun a dwarf's expense, BAD.
Good: E.C. Henry constantly re-enforcing Obo to be a good guy when playing "Star Wars" as he's always carrying around a toy light-sabre or sword. One minute he's Luke, then next he's General Grievous. But on this issue I remain steadfast; I want Obo to identify as himself being one of the "good guys" and not re-enforce any curiosity over evil things.
So when it's all tallied up, weiging the good against the bad. Is E.C. Henry the best uncle or the worst? Well, I did ask Obo that before I started this post and he said I was good without hesitation. So there. Best uncle ever! That's how I'm rollin' with it!
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
P.S. Still working on the epic fantasy novel. Spent a bunch of hours this weekend re-writing a key character introduction. La-oving writing in 3rd person omniscient, it's so much fun jumping arround from character to character.
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