I'm pretty good at delaying gratification. When everyone is saying sports is the last great advertising bastion because who would not want to watch it live, they're neglecting this guy who tapes games and watches them the morning after (even if it means avoiding media from game time to bed time). I've so compartmentalized my life in the name of efficiency that everything waits for its proper time, with no exceptions.Until recently, there was one exception. Magazines. Specifically, three titles: Fast Company, Wired, and National Geographic. When one of those issues arrived in the mail, I got off the ride called my life, stuck my nose in the pages, and didn't emerge until I'd read the thing from cover to cover.
And so I felt a deep, deep pull within me when Jada's first three issues of National Geographic arrived in the mail yesterday. World traveler and curious person that she is, she was as eager as I was to tear the things open. We delayed enough to eat dinner and get ready for bed, but then we dove right in. We didn't go cover to cover - too late and too tired to do that - but we will, the first opportunity we have.
There's a special joy drawing your kids into something you really, really like. That night, at bedtime, I thanked God for National Geographic, for awesome nature and awesome things that people do. I hope my little girl will continue her enthusiasm for National Geographic, and maybe pass that enthusiasm on to her little one.
