The greatest thing I have ever witnessed was the mind of a four year old being unleashed in all of its creative glory upon unsuspecting adults who never saw it coming and never stood a chance. The child was being gently reprimanded for his whining about not getting his way and in the process a rare event occurred...a moment of contemplative silence. And as the hamster wheel was slowing its rotation, the child pondered aloud about what he had just been told.
Seizing the opportunity, the child's mother began to turn the moment into a valuable lesson which would greatly benefit the child later on in his life by explaining how this would be a good time to think about what he could do in the future the next time a situation arises...
"YELLLLLLLOOOOOW CAAAAAAR!!"
Ahhhh yes...
The game is still on...
Undeterred, the mother continued on with her little lesson of Life, having verbally wrestled her child's attention away from passing motor vehicles and back to her ever-wise wisdom regarding the way one should always regard others with respect and...
"YOU PEEEEEEEEEEEE OUT OF YOUR LARRR-GINAAAAAA..."
"YOU PEEEEEEEEEEE OUT OF YOUR LARRR-GINAAAA..."
note: this was actually SUNG, in KEY, to the chorus of "Mellow Yellow"
You see, the little bugger possessed some wisdom of his own. And not only was he more than happy to share this indefatigable knowledge, he delivered it in a first-rate, top-notch Broadway musical fashion, complete with outstretched arms and waving hands. In fact, I am positive I caught a glimpse of Fosse's choreography mixed in with some old vaudeville soft-shoe.
And being the pro that he was, he made sure that the people in the back rows could hear his Celine Dion-like stretched out final note before taking a bow.
yep...the kid BELLOWED it out.
Being unsure of whether I should applaud and yell "Bravo" or "Encore" as if I was at La Scala, cheer ecstatically with my arms in the air like Ozzy just finished "War Pigs" or throw flowers and stuffed animals as if Elvis Stojko nailed a triple lutz backflip mudslide blizzardy whatchmacallit, I did what any reasonably sane, mature, educated intellectual such as myself would do in such a situation when the child learning the difference between appropriate and unappropriate hung in the balance of the disapproving reaction of nearby adults.
I lost my shit.
Completely.
Unglued, in fact. For ten minutes straight.
Knowing I had just crucified any chance Mom may have had from dispelling the lad from future impromptu performances with my laughter, I took great satisfaction in the fact that I had just encouraged the boy to continue with his melodic celebration of female urination.
And it hit me...sometimes we get so caught up in teaching Life's little lessons that we forget how much fun it can be to review what we have already learned. And the best thing about it is this; the lad wasn't entirely wrong. He was almost 100% correct. Sure he flubbed the pronounciation but at least he had his facts almost straight.
All I could get out was a weak "close enough..." The funniest thing about the whole ordeal is I can't stop singing it now, it's quite the catchy little tune. And the irony of the song he was singing just hit me...Mellow Yellow indeed. So THAT'S what the song is about.
Hmmm...smart kid.
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