Got your nose......

This last weekend, Louise and I were lucky enough to escape the cold and snow to spend some time in Florida.  While I could rant and rave about how beautiful the weather was, or that how cool it was to smell smells outside, or see a bee hovering through hibiscus plants, I noticed other things that I thought were more important to write about.  When you were little, did your dad or mom play got your nose with you?  You know the trick: an adult goes up to a younger person, pretends to grab his/her nose with two fingers, puts a thumb through the two fingers, and tells the little person "got your nose".  The little one reacts for a moment, usually laughs after the adult releases the fingers, and for a short moment thinks this is a cool thing.

Always one to observe behaviors and wonder how it all fits into things, I saw this parent/child game happen many times on my visits to Universal Studios and the Magic Kingdom this past weekend.  It was usually some parent who didn't anticipate a 45 minute wait to see Winnie the Pooh or ride Dumbo.  The child was antsy in the stroller and dad tried to keep the youngster occupied by simple games, rarely successful for more than 20 seconds.  Once in a great while, the child would respond in kind to the adult by doing the same with the adult pretending to be shocked at the loss of her/his nose.

Here is what is really cool about the whole thing.  The amusement parks in Orlando are microcosms for the world. I can't tell you how many languages I heard in the days we were there. All of us waiting to ride something that would stretch our imaginations or put us on the edge of fear ( OK not the Jaws ride), all of us patiently in line for that great 10 minute escape.

The really remarkable thing on so many levels was that parents of all shapes, ages, genders all had one thing at the fore; they wanted their kids to have a great family memory.  For many of us, it started with "got your nose".  I can't tell you how many times in those days of visiting I saw "got your nose".  I marveled at its universality; it knew no ethnicity.  Pacific Islander parents go the nose of their children as did African parents as did Hispanic parents.  There were so many noses lost the days at the park that had it been for real we would have generation of kids looking like Voldemort.

So I thought what a marvelous revelation.  No matter where you are from, who you are, what you speak or look like,  you are part of the silliness that is common to all of us. In the wake of the Japanese Tsunami, the trouble in the Northern Africa, the concerns for issues of the economy in our country, we are all united in a wonderful child's game that made us for a moment giggle and laugh.  How cool is that?

Don't look now, got your nose!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Keith