It was mid-day when my little sister Bailey (who is 8) showed me the project she had been working on. It was this felt rendition of a blond pirate girl ( about 8 years old judging from the length of the hair and size of the head in proportion to the rest of the body and lack of legs as a metaphor for dependency). I said, "wow Bailey. You really have a talent. I've never experienced felt looking so dang-darn realistic." (She enjoys when I talk like a complete idiot). Our interaction continued when I ritualistically asked if I could have it for keeps, falsely believing again that because she handed it to me to show me, it should now be mine. Bailey proceeded right on cue with the rolling of the huge blue eyes, (I'm convinced she designed her eyes to be so gigantic so that the rolling of them would cause the rolling of heads. What else could she need eyes that big for?) as she instinctively replied, "no", snatching the felt art from my hands. I never saw the "pirate" or her again, until...
A few hours later, I am on my way downstairs and happen upon a pirate scene. Now, I have never happened upon pirates in their free time before. It has always been in formal settings, either when they're at work on the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Disneyland or when they are "playing it up" in film, like in "(insert name of pirate movie here)". Always stealing, swearing, drinking... Arriving upon this calm scene, I had to ask myself, "Are they felt?" But no! They were real and they were really there. This surreal happenstance really opened my eyes to how pirates are really no different from us. I mean, in their spare time they like to do things like:
think about real issues
think about real issues
read children's books
just hang out low-key
(and this one really surprised me)
they even lounge in laundry baskets very similar to the way you and I creatively used (and use) laundry baskets (as beds, sleds, etc).
I don't know how Bailey managed to pull it off, but she really taught me something that day. Pirates, felt or not, are really nothing to be intimidated by. They are just like us "non-ship-riding, non-treasure-stealing, non-red and white stripe-torn-clothing-wearing" people. Really, the only thing that separates us is what we do for a living, what we wear, and the way we talk, the time period we live in, the material we're made of, yada yada. Because if you got us all together during our free time, we'd all be chillaxing the same way!
PS. I've never said or written before, nor ever will say or write again, the word "chillaxing" or any form thereof.
3 comments:
Haha, just chillax would you!
Those pirates look so un-intimidating. Thanks for the education. I was always really worried that I might run into a stray pirate one day and be in biiig trouble.
Callie I hope you know that what you have gotten a hold of will revolutionize pirate studies for future generations. The inside look you have provided is so different from the preconceived notions of the world. Have you thought about doing any studies into ninjas? I will be in touch.
All of the music here in the Czech Republic sounds like pirate music. I love it.
xoxoxo
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