Tenacity

First a short video:

This my take some 'xplaining, especially for  those not watching or playing Wii MarioKart or New Super Mario Bros. Wii (pronounced "newsupermariobrosweee") on a regular basis often daily constantly.  The first three dudes are regular players on Mariobros and so is Toad, however, he does not come in quite so many colors.  Nick got a little eager about these. 

Now a drawing straight from Z's drafting table:

I think it's one of those cutaway perspective drawings of the interior of a house, perhaps our house, I submit.   He got the location of the garage correct, it is on the left, other than that...  I... well, I laugh aloud every time I look at this carefully.

I'll be damned if I know why there is a baseball field in the living room (I think it is the back of the chair and the floor molding around the carpet), or why the television is on the roof (it's not, it's on the other side of the room so the perspective attempt is there).  In the kitchen there is only a faucet (although to the left of it is, I think, the fridge).  Things go horribly wrong now, oddly Escheresque, those are steps there on the right, going up to a doorway, then into the upstairs, well, er, basement where there is another doorway a ways down.  I am unaware of this area in my house so I can only assume he's working on the re-model.

Why are these two things together in a post?  What am I getting at?  Simply put:  It's all in the trying.

There are probably ten or twelve of these perspective fails by Z, and probably more he threw away.  He drew cubes for about a week when he was first shown how to draw them.  N has long made multiples on a drawing theme, in fact there was quite a series of animals he drew when he was very small, all virtually indistinguishable from the others.

But, man, just look how hard they worked on these things.  There is probably a couple of kidhours of labor put into all those Mario characters, scissor-work is not his forte, and I've seen Z working on one of these perspective drawings, erasing and replacing, for a half hour or more.

When do we loose that ability to react positively, eagerly, when we feel compelled to do something, something positive of course?  I sort of felt compelled to begin this blog but lately it has been difficult to find the time I feel I need to give it justice.  But, as I watch their intent faces, their stuck-out tongues, their little groans of frustration, their cute smirky smiles like we all get when something goes surprisingly right, as I see that intensity, I remember sitting on a bed and learning to play the guitar, flying through the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, spending a week learning to make a cube out of paper, or endlessly tossing a ball against a wall and catching it, and, nothing seems impossible anymore.

I think, when we are young warriors at heart, like these little guys, we feel we have to learn to get some things just right, practice things endlessly, explore possibilities until there are no more.  It's hard to watch because it seems to hurt a little for them, but it is necessary.

I am proud of my boys, they fail well, they fail honorably, nobly.  And, they keep trying.  My kids have so much to teach me.

Look again at Z's house, am I the only one that finds the floating window there on the far right creepy.  Oh, and it's on a bit of an angle there, in perspective.

From Marci's '...things you don't expect to hear from the backseat...'

N: "Raise your hand if you like Thanksgiving!"

Z:  "Raise your hand if you like Christmas!"

N:  "Raise your hand if you like Halloween!"

Z:  "Raise your hand if you like Your Birthday!"

N:  "Raise your hand if you like Lent!"

Really, Lent ranks fifth, who knew...?

(For more on how I feel about failing see the post "Dabby Peedles."  http://ihopeiwinatoaster.blogspot.com/2011/11/dabby-peedles.html )