I like my life. I try to understand what’s going on in it. But sometimes I get confused. For example, you play hooky, and they suspend you from school. You need to relax, so you go for a ride on a roller coaster. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. But a dog is a guy’s best friend. I hear many single women saying all the good men are taken, but so many wives are always complaining about their husbands. Stuff like that just doesn’t make sense. As I explained in my book Staying Happy Healthy And Hot (available at Amazon.com) I like stuff to make sense in my life. I’m not fond of confusion.
You know what makes sense ? Getting all comfortable, sitting here in my big, manly, black leather poppa chair in my living room watching baseball on the tube. Lots of people say football is the new national sport. But I like baseball. There’s only one game you can play with all your clothes on I like better than baseball. Baseball is mostly Summer slow, and it can go on all day or night…and sometimes does. And I like that. The other game I like a lot, is Peek-a-boo. Peek-a-boo is the opposite of baseball. It’s sudden, it’s usually over in a minute or so, it’s not confusing, and there are usually lots of laughs involved. Plus…even senior members of the Louie Louie Generation can play peek-a-boo…and not even get winded. I did that last week, sitting right here in my chair, with the newest member of our family, little Ms. “I’m almost five, poppa” Cecelia. She loves playing peek-a-boo. And I love hearing her laugh.
You don’t have to be almost five to play peek-a-boo, even babies can play. It’s baked into our genes. Babies seem to instinctively know when you hide your eyes, that you’re playing with them. And if you cover their eyes, then suddenly take your hand away, and say “peek,” they laugh, and kick their feet, and pee. You become a god-like figure. It’s like you magically took the world away, and when you said peek, you suddenly brought it all back again. It’s sudden, and startling, and fun. Also, peek-a-boo is about the only game I know where there’s no confusion and no cheating. I think that’s why I don’t think anybody will ever play it on the internet.
If you think about it, peek-a-boo has a point. And it’s pretty profound. The point of peek-a-boo is…I see you. I really see you. I see who you are. I see that you want to play with me. I see that you really care about me, because you want to play with me. I see you smile. I see you laugh. And you see me. There are two of us…seeing each other…caring about each other…and laughing together. It’s one of the ways a kid can learn that I see how much fun it is laughing with you, and smiling with you, and peeing all over you.
Dick’s Details Quiz. All details are in the current podcast.
1- What has 18 legs and catches flies?
2- Where would you drown driving down an interstate highwy?
3- Who suffers most from headaches, men or women ?
4- Why don’t you want to watch the TV shows your dog likes ?
5- Where did we get the idea of food fights ?
Dick’s Details. They take your mind off your mind.
The point of peek-a-boo is I see you…and I like being with you. It’s honest, intense and sudden. No confusion. Love can be like that too. Sudden. Sudden love isn’t always love at first sight. Sometimes you go quite a while knowing each other, and then wham…it just hits when you least expect it. There’s a story in the current podcast about what happened one night, when sudden love hit a man and woman.
It hit her first. It’s usually that way. He saw the explosion inside her. He saw her fall in love with him. It was sudden, honest and intense No confusion. He saw it happen. And it was so sudden that there wasn’t time to think. There was only time to feel the explosion…together.
The story is called, “Nothing Happened.” It’s from the Bedtime Stories Personal Audio CD. If you like it, you can just keep the current podcast, or if you want a fresh copy, check out the Bedtime Stories icon on the home page.
The point of peek-a-boo is that I see you. Funny how words can mean so many different things. When you say ICU In a hospital, you’re talking about the intensive care unit. That’s where people get the most intense attention available. And that’s what happens with peek-a-boo. And also with sudden love.
“I see you”. Interesting. Reminds me of the tagline in “Avatar” – and, really, you are saying just about the same thing. It’s good to be reminded. How often do we forget to see – REALLY see – others?