An Almost Perfect Day
Thursday, August 28, 2014
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| Lauren Stewart, August 26 2014 |
I remember to this day that moment in my grade 9 ancient history class when I was at St. Ed’s a boarding school in Austin, Texas. For reasons that are not in my memory Brother Hubert C.S.C. told us the story, a shaggy dog story, of the little boy who will be the happiest boy in the world if his father will give him a red tricycle. The tricycle of desire then becomes a red bicycle, a red motorcycle, a red car, a red Ferrari but the boy is never satisfied. Brother Hubert then told us that only God would ever and finally satisfy our quest for perfection.
At age 71 but 72 in a few days I don’t need
my fond friend Brother Hubert to remind me that there is no such thing as
perfection. The marring of the perfect is as close as perfection will ever be
in one’s lifetime.
Today (I am writing this August 26 in the
late evening) was such a day. It was a terrible day. It was a day of shouting
and profanity. It was a day of
disappointment and heart wrenching alienation. It was a day when a memory of a
person did not agree with the reality of the day.
But today we celebrated my eldest daughter,
Ale’s birthday. We went to the canopy walk at the UBC Botanical Garden.
I made my now famous tortilla soup (it was so hot only three guests tackled it)
my iced tea, and hot (not so hot) barbecued chicken wings and for dessert
Hilary made a peach cobbler with peaches from Ale’s Lillooet garden.
Perfection (at the very least, a near
perfection) came via Lauren, 12 and her friend 11. They wore beautiful dresses
and I photographed them in the garden. The two little friends and Ale
entertained us at the piano.
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| UBC Botanical Garden Skywalk |
The near perfection came via two little girls
who are still little girls. Perhaps two little girls that are as close
to perfection as one can hope for. As a grandfather I can state that my delight in little girls is an innocent one.
But it took my daughter, Ale, a very good
and conscientious school teacher, to remind me of what I already knew. I can
post here as many pictures of my granddaughters as I want. I have parental
permission. But Lauren’s friend is another thing.
The pictures of the two are delightfully innocent but we are living in the 21st century and we must live it within its rules.
There is one picture here of the two. It is
a Fuji Instant b+w negative peel that I have reversed. Lauren’s friend cannot
be identified but I hope you can imagine what a delightful picture it is.
The last picture of Rebecca, which I took,
in what seems to be a century ago in the Buenos Aires Botanical
Garden is framed going up the stairs to our
bedroom. I saw the sun hitting it as you see here so I snapped it. It is one
of my favourite images of a fond memory which I hope some day will be replaced
by fresh new ones that will make me forget what marred an almost perfect day.
