“Humble!?”---Importance?
(a contemplated
dither)
She sighed,
exasperated at his irritating manner of constant self-deprecation.
Yes! Of course,
unquestioningly, his wife of half a century loved him true,
and, save that
particular annoyance, the man adored her as a saintly-angel.
Still, he had
convinced the grandchildren that he could not manage to conquer
successfully
even the rudimentary challenge of counting correctly to number “10”
without ignorant
mistake, to wit: 1, 7, 4, L-M-N-O-P, 2, 10!
That final “correct”
digit-celebration
exclaimed in near-shouted exuberant excitement. His loving
urchin fans
frustrated and generously pathetic toward the poor old soul’s obviously
apparent lack of
education, erudite experience or even simple rote memory practice.
He, to be sure,
delighted in his little “private” joke;
his better half
did not appreciate the juvenile humor
nearly as much;
in fact, the routine was getting old!
And, his “a, b, l’s!” Oh! Even the kids saw
through that one.
But, each had a healthy
dose of their Nanny’s patient love for Bapa;
so, they
tolerated his attempt at immature Humor,
for his sake!
Finally---
One day, as the
couple sat holding hands, sharing a silent love-moment,
Bapa broke the
reverie with “If you have seeds to plant and want a good result,
sow them between
August 15 and September 20 because that is when Mother
Nature does her
planting. Two or three nice rains will come during that period.”
Now, Nanny had
heard that admonition myriad times over the decades, but,
not one to miss
an opportunity, she began by way of complimentary offering,
“Yes! Bapa! That
is such very good, and, accurate, advice…” deftly advancing
to a Segway of
subtle annoyance correction of his constant self-deprecation with
a hurried
addendum of “…but, why must you always put yourself down?”
His blue eyes
flashed, not in anger, but, rather, of quick-wit as the old man smiled.
“Now, Nanny!” He
began, gently patting her hand, laughter already tinging his words,
“You know I am a
humble man.” She nodded---waiting…
“But, what good is being humbl,,, if nobody notices!?
Amen!
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