She's a Real Mother

Mutha's got eyes in the back of her head.

Monday, August 28, 2006

The Age-Old Debate of Strength vs. Grace

This summer has featured many rounds of a game called, "Battle Tops." My kids, my husband and I regularly crowd around a tiny arena-type playing board and -- employing the high-tech method of "Ready...Set...Go!" -- we each pull our string to send our tops spinning into combat with one another. The rules are simple yet brutal: last top standing, winner takes all.

An interesting piece of flair in this game is that each top has a name printed on it. The choices are pretty butch, including "Hurricane Hank," "Dangerous Dan," and "Cyclone Sam." But there is an exception to this macho vibe.

One top is named "Twirling Tim."

This seems hardly fair. Tim could have been named "Tornado Tim" after all. That would carry on the destructive nature theme that Sam and Hank have already established. "Terrible Tim" would make sense along side "Dangerous Dan." But no, Tim is to assert his ability to twirl.

The result is that Tim is never picked by the males in my family. Not very hard to imagine, I know -- but it pisses me off. So, I have become defiant in that I now call dibs on Tim. He does win...occasionally. But I can't help but feel sorry for the little guy. Is it his fault he is the way he is? Is there any harm in twirling any how?

Grace does have its power, after all.

7 Comments:

At 10:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Doesn't exactly strike fear in the hearts, does it?

 
At 10:35 PM, Blogger FirstNations said...

rename all of them with some witeout and a permanent marker.
rascally ryan
pert pete
racy ronnie
and 'killer phil diller'
to sort of reverse the paradigm.
or name them all after catholic saints (nobody will want to play with 'catherine of sienna, i guarantee.)

 
At 4:10 PM, Blogger Doug The Una said...

Twirling Tim is just like the rest of us. If you yank his string, does he not spin?

 
At 4:28 PM, Blogger Mutha said...

Joel: No...but to my son it suggests coodies.
FN: My parents had the saints strategy with their 6 children...so I think it might give me the willies. Is Catherine of Sienna the one that was tortured on the Catherine Wheel? I would pick Psycho Saint Sebastian. He is the one with the arrows in his chest, always looking like he is having a sexual experience in death. He could go off in all sorts of directions. A real threat.
Doug: It depends on who you mean by "us"...And perhaps that is exactly how Tim seperates himself...no he does not spin...my boy twirls.

 
At 9:49 PM, Blogger FirstNations said...

lets say she had an eating disorder.

a really really disgusting eating disorder.

ew.

 
At 1:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So sorry about the Sox...hope your son isn't taking it too hard.

 
At 9:15 PM, Blogger Mutha said...

Right now I am just trying to shield him from stories about lymphoma and irregular heart-beat. Geez, when the shit hits the fan, it can really hit...thank god my Varitek is on his way back.

 

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