We’ve been compiling a list of “Interesting People we’d like to have at a Dinner Party”. To qualify, you have to be an original thinker. You have to be articulate. If you have a personality quirk or two, all the better! No, I’m not going to release that list here and now, but I’d like to talk about 2 people who have already qualified. One is Little Master and the other is Miss World.
After a lie-in, I got up refreshed this morning and ready to enjoy Sunday. Only Little Master and I were up. Our body clocks are in synch in a kind of “early to bed, early to rise” kinda way. The other inhabitants are the exact opposite. So still in our PJs, we jumped into my car. Destination: Red Hills for the Sunday papers. En route I had a most fascinating convo with this 9 yr old. Essentially he lectured me on the importance of brand in gaining market share. He spoke at length (and oh so eloquently and knowledgeably too!) about Nintendo, Sega, Sony and the like and the fact that Nintendo has managed to remain the preeminent gaming system because of their “lovable mascots”.
I couldn’t refute him as I am oh so ignorant of all things gaming. But he cited facts, history, trivia about home consoles, arcade consoles, lawsuits and Atari, 16 bits, 64 bits, target audiences and the like. Amazing how our children have their own personalities and thoughts. Who would’ve known that Little Master would become/is becoming an authority on all things gaming. And Nintendo has an avid fan and admirer right here in Coopers Hill, St. Andrew, Jamaica.
Miss World now does not wear her heart on her sleeve like Little Master. She is our go-to person for all things tech. She taught me Blogging 101, Twitter 101, how to rip audio from video, where to get great MP3 files, how to create a playlist, what a meme is and on and on. She still keeps me clued in to the norms and rules of social media, rolling her eyes and sighing when I’ve violated one of the many in my tweets or when I’ve used a current term inappropriately. I find out what’s going on in her world through her tweets and blog. Man!!! I am laughing here just reflecting on how my almost 17 year old is her own person. Yes, sometimes her tweets border on PG13. Yes her blog posts are peppered with choice language. But if you know me well enough, you know that I have a pretty liberal stance on language: there is no such thing as indecent, only inappropriate, and at the same time I try to challenge her on being articulate in Standard English. Without apology.
But back to Miss World’s mind. She is her own person. She is expressive. Funny as all hell in a dry, irreverent, disrespectful kinda way. I crack up at her running commentary on twitter, while trying to be Serious Responsible Mummy as I admonish her: “remember that what you put into cyberspace remains there forever, Missy! And be kind!!!”. She is nearing the stage to decide what she wants to do with the rest of her life. And not unlike me when I was her age (shhh…nuh tell her, do!) she doesn’t know what she wants to do. I have to confess, these days my chest tightens when I think about the future where she is concerned. I worry about if I’ve done enough to prepare her for life “on the outside”. I worry about mistakes she will make. I think about what I’ll do to the perpetrator of her first heartbreak. I want with all my heart for her to be able to use her God-given talents to contribute to the world and to make a living and to be happy all at the same time. Ah boi….
My two are wonderful people. I just hope I am doing enough as their steward right now, preparing them and equipping them.