I will live a life of adventure
This is my adventure hat. Actually, it is my dad’s adventure hat. He got it when he was in Australia. Mom told him that he’d never actually wear it. Dad replied, “This will be my adventure hat! I’ll wear it when I go on great adventures!” Mom very lovingly humored him.
That was two summers ago and Dad still hasn’t really worn it except around the house a few times. It is propped up on his microphone stand he used to use for practicing stand up. He looks at it every now and then and imagines the great adventures he might go on. Training with ninjas in the mountains of the Iga Province. Plundering with Pirates in the Caribbean. Having shootouts in corrals that are just OK.
He might not go on those adventures, but now he is on the greatest adventure of all. He’s my dad. And now his job to get me ready for my own adventures. Right now he’s teaching me to crawl better. And we’ve been practicing standing.
Every week we go to swim class so I can be ready to deal with Pirates. We also go to music class so if I ever come across an ancient tribe and have to communicate through music and dance in order to avoid a cultural mishap, I’ll be prepared.
Dad does lots of great things to get me ready for adventures. When I’m least expecting it he’ll throw a ball at me to test my reflexes. Right now my main move is to let it bounce off my face. Dad says we still have a lot of work to do on that one.
We also spend a lot of time in my johnny jump up. Dad says this simulates what it would be like to have your ‘chute caught in trees in enemy territory. And when I’m in my car seat and Dad takes it out of the car with me still in it, we pretend like I’m being ejected from the cockpit of a jet!
Mom says I can go on as many adventures as I want as long as I always come home and tell her all about them. And I have to hug her.
I can’t wait until I am old enough, and my head is big enough, to fit into my adventure hat. Dad and I are going to go on all sorts of great adventures together. We’ll probably fight crime for a while. Dad can be my sidekick who always has something funny to say. And maybe, if we’re really lucky, on our way back home from our trip to Australia (where I’ll buy a new adventure hat for Dad), our plane will go down and we’ll land on a mysterious island filled with secret clans and underground hatches and a smoke monster! What? You don’t think we get Hulu in the womb?
