Jumbo

Jumbo is a little boy who's a lot like the sun. He shines. He has a tint of blonde hair on the front part of his hair and on his brow but if you're not paying close attention, you'll miss these unusual but beautiful traits. Like the sun Jumbo radiates life when he tells stories. He tells the most interesting stories. I believe his favorite stories are those involving an argument between two adults and those delightful stories when he's telling on his brother. Unlike his brother, when Jumbo tells a story he gets all excited and races around the room like a mare running to the finish line of a race.

One day I was reading an article on the Internet and he starts to tell me this story about an argument he had overheard between two adults. I really couldn't make much sense out of what he was saying until he got to the part of the two adults using profanity at one other which is what drew my attention to what he was saying. Believe it or not when he got to the part of them cursing each other out, his voice became high pitched and excited and he acted like he couldn't believe that two people could use such language with one other. I was "flabbergasted" -not so much that two adults had spoken that way in front of a three year old which is not right, but that he found their language to be inappropriate. I mean he was like totally shocked by their profanity as I was by the fact that a three year old could find such language to be inappropriate . He acted like it was "breaking news" of the day.

Soon after that episode. Jumbo told me that his older brother Omar who is six years old had called me a bitch! I was shocked to say the least. I tried to make him understand that it wasn't nice of his brother to call me that and that I hoped that he wouldn't use such language. Children will be children I thought though, but then I realize that we as adults all have some childish ways in us too. To understand this, one must look at it from God's perspective. God refers to those doing His will as His children so as children we're likely to do foolish things. Therefore, I couldn't stay angry at Jumbo's brother for calling me a bitch because I realized that children will do or say unpredictable things, however, I did explain to Omar that it was wrong to call his granny such names.

I must confess though, inside I was laughing a little because it was somewhat hilarious to hear the child say the profanity - you know children have a way with words, but perhaps that's the child in me and my foolishness. It's been awhile since I've hear one of Jumbo's wild tales. I wonder if I'll have to wait long to hear another one of his exciting and shocking tales. I don't know only time will tell. Maybe he's forgotten to knock on my door. Maybe as a three year old he's no longer into that sort of thing. Whatever the case, I'll wait patiently for him to knock and if for some reason he doesn't, then perhaps his six year old brother will come and tingle my ears with one of his hair raising stories. Either way, I'll wait patiently for either one of them to come to my door with an open heart and an open mind.