Reminds me of a few years ago: I was walking out of school, and saw a truck with the hood up in the lot, and a student looking at the engine. I asked if he needed help, and he pointed to an intake filter that had come loose. He said that he’d tried to hot-glue it back into place, which worked about as well in a car engine as you’d expect. Well, I saw the large hose clamp, figured out how to work it back onto the edge of the filter, and re-tightened it.
later…
Glenn Gould?
I haven’t heard him complain since, jeez, 1982 or so.
Thanks, what a lovely discovery!
My feel-good story:
Sitting in a restaurant, my wife says to me : “turn around, you have a visitor”. I look behind me, and yes, there is a charming young fellow approaching me.
He’s not-quite-a-toddler, but trying his best to become one.
Unsteady on his little legs, he has invented a system: take two steps forwards, then pause until his upper body catches up to where his feet have moved. Repeat.
So far, his journey has taken him half the distance across the chasm from his starting point-two tables away- to my table.
I reach out my arm and say "Ooooh, Look at you, you’re such a big boy now! You already had your birthday, and now you’re a year and one month old!
He continues his expedition, proudly reaching out for my hand, and then finally reaching his destination–, placing both hands on my knee to keep himself stable.
Then, he raises his arms up high, with his little hands barely reaching over his head, in the universal language that means “pick me up, Daddy”.
So I put my hands under his armpits, lift him up and turn him around 180 degrees so he can sit on my knee and see where he came from. And I say, "but ya know something? I’m not daddy… That’s your Daddy, over there, and I point at the smiling parents.
The kid looks at Daddy, then twists his head and looks at me, then looks at Daddy again, then twists his head and looks at me again…his brain is clearly working hard to analyze what has happened.
And, yes, he figures it out!! Oh, how the world has changed!
Mommy and Daddy are now over there! And this stranger holding me is not who I thought.
So he wiggles his little body and slides off my knee. I keep holding him under his arms for a full 5 seconds…giving him support until he stops swaying, remembers how legs work, and figures out where his feet are.
He toddles back to Daddy,(making two steps at a time with many pauses) and completes his journey with a squeal of delight.
His mother looks at me and says that’s the farthest he has ever walked. Then she asks “How did you know he was exactly 13 months old?”
I pointed at my grey hair, and answered: “Experience”.
Smiles were shared all around.
Yup, I, too, have had the experience of having once been 13 months old.
I’m not sure how much of that I retain, though, so kudos on your memory!