Sunday, May 24, 2009

Wild Thing

“Read it again.” He would say in a voice that blended command with hopeful wishing. Blue eyes fixed, silk strands falling around his face, he would pop his thumb back into his mouth, bunching Blankie up tight in his lap. Tyler had an insatiable love to be read to. He also could not get enough of certain stories no matter how many times we read them. No. Matter. How. Many. Times! He had a special bond with Max, a kindred spirit from Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak.


Night after night I read about Max driving his mother crazy “making mischief on one kind…or another,” Tyler taking in every detail with glee.


I would read “Max’s mother called him…”


“Wild Thing!” Tyler would yell around the thumb in his mouth.


“and she sent him to bed without his supper.” I would finish, watching a glaze of injustice ripple through Tyler’s eyes.


I never knew why this was his favorite story and wavered between the fact that he himself was a wild thing and the power Max finds over the frightening creatures by “staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once.” Probably a bit of both.


That seems a lifetime ago as Tyler just celebrated his 18th birthday. In classic Tyler fashion, he had a list of things to accomplish on that day, his own personal right of passage for this milestone. He planned to do everything on that day that he could not do the day before as a seventeen-year-old. The list included the obvious: take passengers in his car, buy a lottery ticket, buy cigarettes (even though he does not smoke,) buy reading material reserved for 18 and up and of course, get a tattoo.


You can imagine my reaction.


Wild Thing came to mind.


I was horrified.


I was also certain he would not go through with the tattoo. Tyler is not fond of needles.


I was mistaken.


Wild Things are forever.

Happy Birthday Wild Thing.

5 comments:

Deb Shucka said...

What a beautiful young man! There's something heart-tugging about that particular tattoo, although I would guess he wouldn't like to hear that. :) Lovely post.

Carrie Wilson Link said...

Ditto, Deb! Somehow I didn't see that coming, and when it came, it made me cry.

Happy birthday, and congratulations, to both of you!

BTW, you can't take passengers in your car until 18? We need that law!

Nancy said...

Just to clarify...our state law for drivers under 18: Only one passenger for the first 6 months (licensed 25 year old person with minimum 4 years experience driving) and then family members only for the second 6 months. He did not get is license until this past January so the rules went out the window on his 18th B-Day. Thanks for the well wishes!

Lola said...

Wild Thing-the best! I guess you guys will be at the movie when it comes out!

molly said...

I didn't see that coming either! It made me laugh out loud. Max was a favourite with my boys too......no tatoos though!