Damn Swede

I spent my afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese’s, which isn’t exactly what I had planned for the day.

I had originally planned to sleep in and go check out cabinet stores to start pricing the additional cabinets I want to put into my kitchen. When I came home last night my home phone was still out of order, despite the fifth visit by an AT&T technician this week. I called them up and read them the riot act (as nice as possible because I felt bad for the CSR). A technician was at my house by 8:15 AM, screwing up my plans for sleeping in. I did pack up my Christmas decorations and took a little nap. Sinthia called and asked me to go to get her resized engagement ring from the jeweler and then Chuck E. Cheese’s for a play date for her son Ian. Wanting the company, I agreed to accompany her.

Chuck E. Cheese’s has always been a mystery to me. Just today (at 31 years old), I took my first steps inside this “magic” world of chintsy games and bad pizza. This particular location was packed - birthday parties, families and single dads with weekend custody went from game to game, dropping tokens in and taking tickets out. It was obvious that some families were frequent enough visitors to learn how to beat the system. A mom stood to the side of the basketball hoop game as her son handed her the mini-basketballs so she could drop them directly in the hoop. Across the way, there were three kids gathered around a “Whop-a-mole” game. Upon closer look, one was using the provided mallet to continually hit one of the openings while his two cohorts each used their hands to hit the remaining open holes. Tickets poured out of the front of the game.

My grandmother’s new husband, when they first married fifteen years ago, ingratiated himselves with my much-younger cousins my taking them to Chuck E. Cheese’s. Initially jealous, I am now thankful I was not a part of this tradition.

As I was watching Ian run from game to game, I was struck by the wide-eye innocence of youth. Going to Disneyland as a child was magical; going a few years ago I was taken aback by how cheap it all looked. But watching Elijah, Anna and Nathaniel during the Pirates of Penzance or the Swiss Family Robinson boat rides, they believed the animated pirates were coming for them and the robotic giraffe was going to nibble on their hair.

In a lot of ways I wish I still had that wonderment and awe for life in general. Instead, I keep my head down and focus on getting my job done, errands run and generally try to stay out of people’s way.

I went on a business trip a couple years ago with my agency’s Vice President of Branding. This guy is super-smart and very accomplished in his career. He is also one of the coolest guys you will ever met. We were in San Francisco and had the morning to explore the city before we were due to the airport. The streets of Chinatown called out to us and off we went, exploring the shops along the way. At 1:00 a car would be waiting for us at the hotel, from which we had wandered about a mile. After a leisurely morning, I began to get nervous about lunch because time was running out. Head down, I began to walk faster, pointing out all the restaurants I saw. “How about that one? Or that one? That one?” Looking back, John remained a half block behind standing on the corner. I retraced my steps. “John?” He had his back to me and was looking up one of San Francisco’s many hills. He glanced back at me, raised his hands in the air and exclaimed, “Look at this! Isn’t this beautiful?!” In my haste I forgot to look around and, he was right, it was beautiful. Seeing John that way it occured to me that becoming more mature did not mean you had to leave that wonderment behind and I vowed to slow down and regain that awe. That was two years ago, and I was reminded of my goal today.

Sometimes goals fall by the wayside of life, as the exercise companies well know this time of year. But sometimes goals cannot be accomplished within a year alone, requiring years of effort and discipline. For me, I think this is one of those goals.

What does the ‘E’ stand for anyway?