World Enough and Time: Children's hour
Cancelled meetings, church worship back to ZOOM, we seem to be in the grips of COVID again. Wait for new movies to age past the opening weekend, then attend on a weeknight when the audience will be minuscule; resort to pick-up meals from restaurants, nervous about all the servers and other workers who won’t wear masks. Back to the past.
I am happy that ex-president Trump has reshaped his standard speech to include promoting vaccination. Although he gets some boos, I can only applaud. After all, his administration helped get the vaccines developed and available. He benefitted from being vaccinated himself, after a bout of COVID. Most of our leading politicians here and elsewhere have also benefitted from the vaccines. Why can’t they urge others to get the shots? Seems hypocritical; Trump calls them “gutless.” (There are some things to like about that man.)
Since the Omicron variant spreads to both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, the measure of vaccines’ effectiveness becomes the rate of hospitalizations and deaths for each group, particularly when one focuses on the most vulnerable, the elderly. Those unvaccinated, 55 or older, are at least ten times more likely to need hospitalization than the vaccinated. Those unvaccinated 65 or older are almost 20 times more likely to die. Enough said!
Like many of you, I risked COVID to visit the grandchildren (and their dad) during the recent holidays.
To Utah, on the wings of Delta, a short flight to what seems a different America, given the density of population, a metroplex that sprawls south from Salt Lake City, with intense traffic on the multi-lane interstate. From the airport itself to downtown to the burbs, many construction projects.
Almost no one seemed to be wearing masks in the kid-friendly, teeming trampoline centers, the dinosaur museum, and shopping mall. Restaurants were full, almost as if Omicron didn’t exist, though—unlike Oklahoma—billboards urged masking and vaccination. Masking was required on the excellent fast-train system.
As always, this oldster, “Pa,” as he’s called, had to reacquaint himself with what it’s like to live with two children, ages 9 and 6. You have to relearn to watch where you step, with toys and pieces of toys seemingly everywhere. Relearn not to be surprised when the kids streak by, when any moment can be filled with urgency, voices suddenly raised and just as suddenly lowered. You can recover some of your youth or feel very old, sometimes both.
One anticipates the meeting with the grandchildren who are both the same and different from what they were just six months ago. Nora, formerly “Nora Adora,” continues to be open, making friends easily, focuses well, and—thank goodness—helps control or channel her younger brother’s bubbling energy. Graham has developed more vocabulary and generally is a happy, lively man.
But he’s also loud. About an hour into the visit, I took my hearing aids out to lessen the pain of sound eruptions. His incessant wiggling created a certain grumpiness in me; I felt a bit like Mr. Wilson, Dennis, the Menace’s victim. All credit to my son, who manages to plan classes and write while the kids play.
Luckily, we tend to like the same movies. Young Graham and I must have seen “Benji, the Hunted,” at least six times. Even if I didn’t happen to be watching, I learned to tell by the rhythm of the barks whether the floppy dog was confronting the wolf, the cougar, the bear or fending off the eagle. It’s really quite a good movie. Reminded me of when my son was that age, repeatedly watching my videotape of the first “King Kong”; I knew exactly where he was in the plot by the tenor of Fay Wray’s screams.
We also watched the original “Incredible Journey,” with that incredible Siamese cat, and both Winnie the Pooh cartoons. Much better than the Sponge Bob I was overdosed with the last time I visited.
Nora is a fan of Bear Grylls’ “You vs. Wild,” where you choose the method Bear will use to get past a particular problem. Sort like those twist-a-plot or choose your own adventure books and computer games. Should Bear cross a jungle chasm on an old log or attempt to swing over using one of the many vines? Ah, the log broke, but Bear grabbed a dangling vine. Nice that one has the option of going back and choosing the other method, to see how that one worked out. The plots can seem a bit far fetched—a St. Bernard lost in snowy mountains?—and the endings are often undercut by the fact that Bear has helicopters and planes at his beck and call. (Also, a camera crew.) Did he really need to hack his way through all that jungle to get to a village by a broad river?
Overall, a good visit. Carried only a remnant of a cold back, brought on by the high, dry outside cold and indoor heat of Utah. It may have been colder in Oklahoma at the time, but we had 40+% of humidity that helped. My cat was certainly happy that I had returned so I could adjust the vertical blinds several times a day to allow direct sunlight on his favorite bed.
We have both settled down to life at home.
This article originally appeared on The Shawnee News-Star: World Enough and Time: Children's hour
