I have a number of talents. Being cool is not one of them. I am way too enthusiastic to ever be truly cool. I can be quirky and funny and fantastic, lovable and maybe even lovely, but never truly cool.
It's okay. I've come to terms with it.
And don't get me wrong--I like cool people, the world might be less interesting without cool people--I just think that being cool and enthusiastic are mutually exclusive. I think being cool would be boring. But, hey, I've never tried it. I wouldn't know.
And how, you may ask, would a person start thinking about something like the mutual exclusivity of coolness and enthusiasm?
Lucy said to me the other day, "Mom, am I just like Dad when he was little?" She continued, hopefully, "I am crazy, right, and I'm always doing stuff like he did, right?"
Undoubtably, Lucy was thinking of the many times we have tried to understand Gabe's tendencies by comparing him with his dad at his age. This leads to comments like, "He finds every corner and leads with his head."
I had to think for a minute before I answered Lucy. I told her that she is a lot like her dad, but she is also like me in a lot of ways, and in some ways she is just like herself. She was pretty disappointed. I didn't have the heart to elaborate... Because hey, who doesn't want to be like their fantastic, super cool daddy? She doesn't "lead with her head" as much as Gabe does. She is enthusiastic around people in a way that feels very familiar. Gabe is enthusiastic, too.... Anyway. I'm splitting hairs.
Happy Holidays to all of the cool people who happen to read this, and to all of the enthusiastic people, too.
