Can't Wait Until Tomorrow

   

Mr. Flexible met us at the Buffalo airport

 One night in Buffalo in the late 1970's, brother Eric and I went to see Marcel Marceau downtown. We had seats way in the back of the theater – it was hard to see. As Marcel moved across the stage, I would move from one side of my seat to the other depending on whose head in front of me was in the way.

     At one point, Eric leaned down and said in a whisper, “Can you hear anything?”

     Eric remembers this anecdote so much better than I do – it is barely a flicker of a memory to me even after being reminded of the incident by Eric. I laughed then, and I laugh now, of course, because you see Marcel Marseau was a mime. (He was also the only one who spoke in Woody Allen's Silent Movie – another irony I seem to remember much better than the night I saw Mr Marceau in person!)

     Father's Day was just a couple of weeks ago. Eric said he asked his daughter, Bethany, if she had any pearls of wisdom she had gained from her Dad. Bethany could not think of any off-hand. So Eric asked his middle child, Gabriel, if he had any pearls of wisdom learned from his Dad. Gabe needed no time to think at all as he blurted out three separate statements:

     “Don't ask, we will offer.”

     “Go to the back of the park and start there.”

     “I can't wait for tomorrow..........because I get better looking every day.”

     The first one – don't ask, we will offer – is kind of like my Mom's saying don't be asking for anything whenever we went out.

     The second statement has to do with amusement parks like Disney – if you get there when the park opens and go to the far end and work your way back toward the front while riding the rides and seeing the attractions you will stand in shorter lines. Eric figured this out long ago and has shared this wisdom – Gabe has been to Disney World a few times with family and with friends – and has followed this advice with much satisfaction.

     The third statement I can't wait for tomorrow because I get better looking every day – is pure Dad, Eric's Dad and mine. I can see and hear Dad saying it; I can see and hear Eric saying it. And I can see and hear Gabriel. They own it in each his own way.

     Such a classic.

     And I had heard this story during our trip to Buffalo and then Vermont. At that point, Eric's oldest, Ben, had driven from Chicago with his wife, Caitlyn, to join us for the family reunion, and Eric asked Ben if he had any pearls of wisdom learned from his father.

     Ben immediately said:

     “I'm watching and learning” which is pure Eric with a little bit of our Dad's “Look them over real good before you marry them!”

     And, “I'm Mr. Flexible,” something I do not think either of our parents would have ever said – but it does apply to Eric very well, and because Ben said it so readily, I think it is a philosophy Ben abides as well.

     Mr. Flexible. So it is okay that Eric could not hear Marcel Marceau that night – perhaps that is where the watching and learning way of life came about!

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