Mythology

My sister called me tonight.  Well, she actually called several times.  We speak on the phone most days.  But tonight she and her husband were watching the 1981 version of Clash of the Titans.  This had started a conversation between them and a bevy of questions for me.  These questions may not be in the exact order, but this was the crux of the discussion:

Was this from Homer's Odyssey? 

No.  It's just a myth. 

But then what book? 

Well, it's mostly from oral tradition and written in many books. 

What is the Odyssey? 

It's the story of Odyseus, who having fought in Troy with the Greeks, and having angered Poseidon is trying to make his way home to his wife and son and his 20 year absence (10 in war and 10 getting home).  Oh Brother Where Art Thou? is based on the Odyssey.  It's the followup to Homer's Iliad? 

What's the Iliad? 

The story of the Trojan War.

Okay, so back to Clash of the Titans, is this the guy who is chained to a wall? 

No that was Prometheus.  He was chained to a cliff and everyday an eagle came and ate his liver, which his being immortal, grew back for the eagle to return to eat the next day.  It was his punishment for giving man fire. 

Okay, but Percy Jackson is Perseus. 

Yeah, kind of. 

What about the sequel? 

There is no sequel to the original Clash of the Titans.  The new Clash has a sequel.  None of that occurred in the Greek Myth. 

So Perseus never goes to Hades? 

No.  Only one living person ever descended into Hades and returned.  Orpheus went into Hades to bring his wife out. 

So What Dreams May Come comes from a Greek myth? 

Yeah in essence it does.  Only he never gets her out.  He turns around and she is sucked back in.  He spends the rest of his life mourning her.

I don't know how she knows this stuff; she just does (to the voice in the background). 

To be fair I had to look up Orpheus' name.  But I knew the rest of it.  Why?  I read a lot as a kid, including the Iliad and the Odyssey.  In grade school.    And I have a memory like a steal trap.  Encourage your kids to read.  Someday, they might be able to answer a bunch of questions from a sibling.  :)

All in all the conversation left me feeling very good about myself and my brain.  With two little children I swear I am losing so much of my intelligence.  I don't feel half as smart as I used to think I was.  I appreciated that she called me to ask me these things instead of just looking them up on the Internet.  It gave me a chance to reach into the recesses of my memory and bring out some old data.  It's a very good exercise.

I haven't felt this brainy since I answered all the questions on the Trivia Pursuit card when I won last time I played my husband.  He had to ask me every question on the card after I answered the sports question correctly to see which one he should have picked, and then I answered each one correctly, and it blew his mind!

I really need to feel smart.  It is both a good thing and a bad thing.  I can offend some people with my need to be smart.  I can come off like a know-it-all.  In truth I know I don't know everything.  But I sure do like being right.  And that is a character flaw.

But at least tonight I got to feel like the brainy kid I used to be without offending anyone.  Thank you Tammy for allowing me the opportunity to answer your questions and for allowing me to be a know-it-all.  I sure had fun!

What the future may hold...

I suppose it is natural to speculate on who and what your children will grow to be.  As far as I am concerned, Charlie can be whatever he wants to be.

His father has plans though.  Plans that take Charlie along a path that would be his path if he had things to do over.  Military.  College.  Homeland Security.  Secret Service.

I don't see it.  I don't think that Charlie will be able to divorce himself from his responsibility to his brother.  At three he is already Jimmie's caretaker.  He helps me get diapers, and he picks up after Jimmie.  And he explains Jimmie to strangers.  I've heard him say many times when people speak to Jimmie, "He doesn't talk."  To my sister, when she opened the car door and greeted Jimmie, he said, "That's my brother.  He's a happy boy."   I can't see him protecting the president at the expense of  his own life, knowing his brother needs him. 

I also watch this very sensitive, loving young boy every day.  I see him tuck in his teddy bear and read it a story.  I see him pick up a notebook and pretend to be a doctor and clean his brother's feet.  I see him dress and undress the stuffed animals.  And yes I see him play with baseballs and hit them off the tee like a big league player, and throw footballs, and play with trucks in the dirt, and even play with toy guns.  But he's a boy.  That's how boys play.  And while that boy part is so very like his father, he is growing up knowing that his brother is not like other kids, and that he is somehow the "big" brother even though he is younger.  He gets it.

I don't think he will ever be in the secret service.

But if he should choose that path, then I will support it.