Sunday, March 14, 2010

Parental 'Old Coot' Clatter



I remember as a kid, one of the most irritating noises I heard was the clatter of my father doing dishes at dawn. In the middle of my precious REM sleep, he's thoughtlessly banging pots, pans, and plates from the night before! Sound really travels in a cold 1,100 square foot house.

I even remember one of my college buddies lambasting his mother for the same. The snot-nosed ingrate would spend the morning playing golf and then come home and take a nap in front of the television. But he'd often wake in a fit of anger, also directed at his mother for clanging dishes. What a b1tch, you know, that woman that cooked, cleaned, laundered, and subsidized the entire livelihood of *Sleeping Beauty*!

But here I am now, married and harried by two small children. Sleeping less and less as I age, I'm often up and about in the wee hours.

And I can't tell you how tempting it is to wash whatever leftover dishes I have, dry them, and put them and the clean ones from the dishwasher away!

Us parents have to take advantage of our scant free time, of our windows of opportunity. You 'young coots' will understand, one day.

See also - Dirty Dishes.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

c-nut man, you gotta stop implying yourself as "old coot". you are only 36? I would say you are an young coot :)

i noticed several articles of yours that sounded as if you are "old" (> 40) - actually the old nowadays is "> 70"

my favorite quote in this context:
"you are as young/old as your mind thinks you are"

ps:
this post was referring to parents with kids, but my point was in-general you implying yourself being "old"

CaptiousNut said...

Anon,

I genuinely feel *old*.

Though I still have a good memory.

It seems like just yesterday I was in first grade at a government school. I have vivid memories of my entire life. So, in my mind it seems like the last 35 years have blown by in an instant.

On the other hand....I'm driving the ball further than I ever have!