you'll never know the punchline

observed in my local supermarket -


"Mum, Mum, it's a joke... listen, Mum" the little boy squeeks, reading from the pack of children's food in ASDA. But Mum doesn't give one.

"Mum, here's the joke... 'What do you call a...' Mum, listen!"

But Mum is thinking about other things. All it would take is a stoop down to his level. To put your large, strong hand on his little head. "What is it, Son?" you could ask. And then laugh at his joke... even if it's not very good. Just laugh and hug him and tell him he's funny.

But you, Mum... you just push the trolley on, along the aisle. You won't ever hear the punchline. That's one fraction of his growing up you've just missed.

So next time, take five fucking seconds of your time. Because next time you look he'll be so much older.

He'll be a young man.

Then courting.

Then married.

Then gone.

No joke.

more on dreams

I find it ironic that the last dream of this nature I had moved me to blog about it, and here I am a few months on doing the same thing, when I have decided not to write over more important things. But such is the influence of dreams...

Some people regard hand-holding to be more intimate than kissing. I don't think I agree with that, but it certainly is more revealing. After all, kissing is a socially.. hmm.. is 'expected' the right phrase to use? Intuitive, is I think, better. Yet hand-holding is, I think, an odd phenomenon. It is, literally, reaching out to someone. Someone who, as another human being, has the power to withdraw. You are making a blatant attempt at connection; reaching out to someone for acceptance - to say "I'm with you" or "please, don't leave me".

So of all the things to dream about, hand-holding seems the oddest... because, let's be frank, it's not the first thing that springs to mind when one thinks of the opposite sex. But is it the most revealing? How would I know? Maybe...