Best of Friends, Enemies and Friends again
Best of Friends, Enemies and Friends again.
Published 12.8.10 Cass Lake Times
By Allan Olson
Let me introduce you to someone. His name is Michael. He is my one of my nephews. This young man is a mere eight years young. He is often my oldest son Nikolai’s best friend, and has been since they were both very little. There is only four months separating them in age, with the latter being the eldest of the two.
The following two paragraphs are written from the perspective of my son.
This person, “Michael,” is first and foremost my comrade, chum, playmate and friend, but I will have to admit that he is also my arch-rival, nemesis, and enemy . . . and, well, he's also my cousin.
Let me explain why he is on both lists. He is on my “like” list because it is nice to have someone your age that understands what you’re talking about, and all the troubles and turmoils we go through to make ourselves understood. I don't have to go through all that with him. We understand each other. Call it what you will, but it's our language, and it works for us. Also, it is nice to have someone to play with that is close to my age. We play with trucks, and we hide, and do lots of other destructive things.
Oh, the destruction those two boys have gotten into. A few years ago, we adults were visiting our living room when we heard a crash in the bedroom. Michael came running out. “Fishy, fishy, it fell!”
In the bedroom, we found the dresser lying on top of the toy box, with Nikolai underneath, trapped and scared, but not scratched. The two-gallon fish tank, well, it had seen better days. Colorful blue rocks and other tank decorations were scattered all over the floor, and the water was seeping into the carpet.
The boys had either wanted a closer look at the fish or tried to get something off the dresser (I don’t remember which), but it left a mess. Since then, those two have gotten into many scrapes and arguments, and had ton of fun.
This past weekend the boys were together again, and the arguments started.
I was lying in bed – sick. Everyone else had left the house to do some shopping.
They were playing the Wii. One kid wanted to play the current game and the other wanted to play a different one. And the game they were playing was one I told them they couldn’t. I think Nikolai was getting his butt kicked in that game and didn’t like it anymore.
I was miserable and not in the mood for fighting. After consulting with my wife via phone, I shut the Wii down and sent them to separate rooms.
“It’s all your fault, Michael!” Nikolai said, screaming at his cousin/best friend etc. “It’s all your fault!”
Michael wisely kept his opinions to himself and didn’t say a word.
I had a few words with Nikolai before crawling back into bed.
A few minutes later, I heard them conversing with each other.
“Can we get out yet?” Nikolai soon asked. “No!” I hollered back, weakly. I was not happy with them.
After about a 30 minute punishment, I paroled them. Soon, most of the toy cars were out in the hall, and they were ramping them, crashing them, and I don’t know what else. But most importantly, they were the best of friends again.
If only more problems in this world could be solved as easily and quickly as those two. Wouldn’t life be much more enjoyable and pain free? Perhaps if we took some time to look at our younger generations and take some time to learn a few things from them, maybe we just might learn something, too; something about friendship, trust and learning to get along with each other.
Will they have another fight? I’m going to say, most definitely, yes. Will they be best of friends again? I certainly think, definitely, yes.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great week. As always, we appreciate your comments and feedback, so please feel free to drop us a line or a photo or two at cltimes1@arvig.net. If you’ve enjoyed this column and wish to read the others, please visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com/.
Published 12.8.10 Cass Lake Times
By Allan Olson
Let me introduce you to someone. His name is Michael. He is my one of my nephews. This young man is a mere eight years young. He is often my oldest son Nikolai’s best friend, and has been since they were both very little. There is only four months separating them in age, with the latter being the eldest of the two.
The following two paragraphs are written from the perspective of my son.
This person, “Michael,” is first and foremost my comrade, chum, playmate and friend, but I will have to admit that he is also my arch-rival, nemesis, and enemy . . . and, well, he's also my cousin.
Let me explain why he is on both lists. He is on my “like” list because it is nice to have someone your age that understands what you’re talking about, and all the troubles and turmoils we go through to make ourselves understood. I don't have to go through all that with him. We understand each other. Call it what you will, but it's our language, and it works for us. Also, it is nice to have someone to play with that is close to my age. We play with trucks, and we hide, and do lots of other destructive things.
Oh, the destruction those two boys have gotten into. A few years ago, we adults were visiting our living room when we heard a crash in the bedroom. Michael came running out. “Fishy, fishy, it fell!”
In the bedroom, we found the dresser lying on top of the toy box, with Nikolai underneath, trapped and scared, but not scratched. The two-gallon fish tank, well, it had seen better days. Colorful blue rocks and other tank decorations were scattered all over the floor, and the water was seeping into the carpet.
The boys had either wanted a closer look at the fish or tried to get something off the dresser (I don’t remember which), but it left a mess. Since then, those two have gotten into many scrapes and arguments, and had ton of fun.
This past weekend the boys were together again, and the arguments started.
I was lying in bed – sick. Everyone else had left the house to do some shopping.
They were playing the Wii. One kid wanted to play the current game and the other wanted to play a different one. And the game they were playing was one I told them they couldn’t. I think Nikolai was getting his butt kicked in that game and didn’t like it anymore.
I was miserable and not in the mood for fighting. After consulting with my wife via phone, I shut the Wii down and sent them to separate rooms.
“It’s all your fault, Michael!” Nikolai said, screaming at his cousin/best friend etc. “It’s all your fault!”
Michael wisely kept his opinions to himself and didn’t say a word.
I had a few words with Nikolai before crawling back into bed.
A few minutes later, I heard them conversing with each other.
“Can we get out yet?” Nikolai soon asked. “No!” I hollered back, weakly. I was not happy with them.
After about a 30 minute punishment, I paroled them. Soon, most of the toy cars were out in the hall, and they were ramping them, crashing them, and I don’t know what else. But most importantly, they were the best of friends again.
If only more problems in this world could be solved as easily and quickly as those two. Wouldn’t life be much more enjoyable and pain free? Perhaps if we took some time to look at our younger generations and take some time to learn a few things from them, maybe we just might learn something, too; something about friendship, trust and learning to get along with each other.
Will they have another fight? I’m going to say, most definitely, yes. Will they be best of friends again? I certainly think, definitely, yes.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great week. As always, we appreciate your comments and feedback, so please feel free to drop us a line or a photo or two at cltimes1@arvig.net. If you’ve enjoyed this column and wish to read the others, please visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com/.
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