Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Parents May Be Smarter Than You Think

When I was 5 years old, I was convinced that my parents knew all that there was to know in the world. By the time I was 15, I was sure that due to my vast intellect and superior education I was quickly catching up and that within a few years, say after a couple of years at UNC, I would leave them far behind. At 25 (when they were around the age I am now), I realized what an insufferable punk I must have been at 15. Closing in on 45, I'm quite comfortable with knowing that I know a bunch of stuff that my folks don't, but they know a bunch of stuff that I don't and never will and they continue to add to that knowledge by leaps and bounds.

I know far more movie, television and modern-era music trivia than both of my parents put together (except for stuff like Jerry Springer and Montel Williams, which Dad knows far more about than I) and I rather surprised Mom a few weeks ago with being able to tell her within +/- 500 feet or so the heights of Mts. Everest, McKinley, Rainier and Shasta without looking them up (okay, I was off by closer to 1000 feet with McKinley). On the other hand, Dad was able to identify the Common Chokecherry in our backyard from a grainy photo I posted (I was really hoping it was a Crunchberry instead) and Mom was able to ID the Slippery Elm in the yard as well as tell me that the damn birds making a racket in our backyard every morning like that of a hundred demented beagle puppies destroying their squeaky toys were in fact Black and White Warblers. And on our trip to Duke Gardens my question about what kind of sickly-sounding duck that was that we were hearing was met with a look of mild disbelief at my ignorance before Mom pointed out that it was in fact a Fish Crow. Who knew there was more than one kind of crow? And what idiot named it a Fish Crow instead of say... a Sickly-sounding Duck Crow? But I digress.

Actually, I'm not sure I'm digressing because I'm not really sure that I had a point other than I think I realized that it's cool that I'm never going to be as smart as my parents and it's equally cool that they're never going to be as smart as me.

3 Comments:

At 4:03 PM, Blogger Billy Jones said...

I figured out some years ago that my partents are smarter than me but a fish crow? I'm off to Google, Dude.

 
At 4:06 PM, Blogger Billy Jones said...

I found a fish crow!

 
At 6:22 PM, Blogger Tony Plutonium said...

That's a great reference, Billy! The "huh-uh" referent for the call is pretty descriptive, although I still think they sound mostly like a duck that's eaten too many rotten fish.

Great job hosting the Tavern today!

 

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