The Best Things in Life are Free
What on earth does that mean? To find out, you could always go to the The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy and look it up... I did... but let me tell you: that definition is so silly in its dismissal of the philosophy that it just made it onto My Top Ten Blog Rants. Whoa! Ed has a rant list, whodda thunk? So why haven't you seen this list? Two reasons:
1. The first thing on Ed's Top Ten Blog Rants is arrogant bloggers that rant too much when no one cares about their opinion. So I really try and not post my rants. I may talk you into a corner with them at a party, but I won't post them.
2. I didn't start this blog entry to talk about cultural literacy.
So why, then, did Istart this blog entry?
On Saturday Brian, Linda and I took two nieces (Julia, 12 and Anna, 8) and one nephew (Jakob, 7) to King's Dominion for the day. The kid's spent the night on Friday, we left the house at 7:30am, drove to the park and opened it at 10:30am, and left, exhausted, at 10:45pm. After dropping off two nieces at my sister's house, we finally made it home by 1:30am.
Ok. Cool. Good Uncle duty. You went to an amusement park. How on earth does going to an amusement park inspire anyone to utter any phrase containing the work "free"? Tickets are $35 for adults (My work gets us a discount off the $45 price), and kids 7 and over are "adults". Sodas cost $3 each. Pizza is $4 a slice. Some places like the lasertag arena cost extra. Lunch for 6 cost almost $60!
Let me side-step that question for a moment, ignore the blazing hole in my wallet, and recount for you my favorite memories from the day:
- Holding on to the handrail of the Rebel Yell while Anna buried her head in my shoulder on her first adult roller coaster ride.
- Going into the deep end of the wave pool with Julia, and giving Julia, Anna, and Jakob "Uncle Eddie" rides in the pool. An "Uncle Eddie" ride involves having many children jump on your back and the ensuing attempt to not drown is, apparently, much fun for those that are not "Uncle Eddie".
- Watching Julia be so excited coming off of the "Flight of Fear" roller coaster that her hands were trembling.
- Watching Julia climbing all over the cartoon construction playground (after scoffing at the idea) once she realized that 12 is not too old to enjoy such things.
- Seeing Jakob explain to a little girl stranger that his light-up LED sword had a different color sequence than hers, but that she shouldn't worry, because hers looked good too.
- Having all my nieces and newphews at some point or another accidentally call me "dad". Also, having all my nieces and nephews, on some ride or another, fight over who got to sit next to "Uncle Eddie".
I could make a longer list, but you catch the drift: None of the above cost a dime. My favorite moments involved making kids happy, or watching kids be happy. They were about knowing that I had facilitated joy. There is a special feeling when you have done something truly positive for another person. I would go so far as to say that such a feeling is one of "the best things in life".
1. The first thing on Ed's Top Ten Blog Rants is arrogant bloggers that rant too much when no one cares about their opinion. So I really try and not post my rants. I may talk you into a corner with them at a party, but I won't post them.
2. I didn't start this blog entry to talk about cultural literacy.
So why, then, did Istart this blog entry?
On Saturday Brian, Linda and I took two nieces (Julia, 12 and Anna, 8) and one nephew (Jakob, 7) to King's Dominion for the day. The kid's spent the night on Friday, we left the house at 7:30am, drove to the park and opened it at 10:30am, and left, exhausted, at 10:45pm. After dropping off two nieces at my sister's house, we finally made it home by 1:30am.
Ok. Cool. Good Uncle duty. You went to an amusement park. How on earth does going to an amusement park inspire anyone to utter any phrase containing the work "free"? Tickets are $35 for adults (My work gets us a discount off the $45 price), and kids 7 and over are "adults". Sodas cost $3 each. Pizza is $4 a slice. Some places like the lasertag arena cost extra. Lunch for 6 cost almost $60!
Let me side-step that question for a moment, ignore the blazing hole in my wallet, and recount for you my favorite memories from the day:
- Holding on to the handrail of the Rebel Yell while Anna buried her head in my shoulder on her first adult roller coaster ride.
- Going into the deep end of the wave pool with Julia, and giving Julia, Anna, and Jakob "Uncle Eddie" rides in the pool. An "Uncle Eddie" ride involves having many children jump on your back and the ensuing attempt to not drown is, apparently, much fun for those that are not "Uncle Eddie".
- Watching Julia be so excited coming off of the "Flight of Fear" roller coaster that her hands were trembling.
- Watching Julia climbing all over the cartoon construction playground (after scoffing at the idea) once she realized that 12 is not too old to enjoy such things.
- Seeing Jakob explain to a little girl stranger that his light-up LED sword had a different color sequence than hers, but that she shouldn't worry, because hers looked good too.
- Having all my nieces and newphews at some point or another accidentally call me "dad". Also, having all my nieces and nephews, on some ride or another, fight over who got to sit next to "Uncle Eddie".
I could make a longer list, but you catch the drift: None of the above cost a dime. My favorite moments involved making kids happy, or watching kids be happy. They were about knowing that I had facilitated joy. There is a special feeling when you have done something truly positive for another person. I would go so far as to say that such a feeling is one of "the best things in life".
posted by Ed at 12:19 AM
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