Flying W Things

On Sunday, we were at the Pusateri's for a Super Bowl Party. Lots of food, lots of fun, and a little drama thrown in for good measure.

So what's with the window, you ask? Well...

Cameron was playing in the back yard. According to eyewitnesses (I was inside at the time) he picked up a rock and decided to try throwing it against the side of the garage.

It bounced off the side of the garage a few times before he released it on a little higher trajectory - right through the window. These same eyewitnesses saw Cameron's expression go from wonder "I wonder where the rock went" to interest "Hey, that window is broken" to horror "I threw a rock and it broke the window." As this realization swept over him, the wailing commenced.

Another partygoer came in looking for me just as I heard the distinctive keening of the distraught Cameron. I found him standing at the back door sobbing "I broke the window, I broke the window" over and over again. Poor guy, he was just coming unglued. It didn't even cross my mind that he'd broken a real window - I figured a window had popped out of the playhouse they were playing in or something like that. So I started trying to calm him down. Katy showed up and began the same process. Mike was very cool about the whole thing and got into the act as well - "It's okay, Cameron. Cameron. Look at me - it's okay. Cameron - it's okay."

Then it came time to assess actual damage. Cameron refused to go anywhere near it. So Mike and Katy and I went to have a look. Sure enough, a nice broken window - right through the lower pane. Mike whipped out his digital camera and took the picture you see above. Then, with a glint in his eye, he went into the garage and retrieved the rock:

As you can see, it's one of those nice flat river rocks - good heft, nice shape. It is a rock that begs to be thrown, much as the One Ring strives to return to Sauron's hand.

I stuck the rock in my pocket and will put it in Cam's keepsakes box "as an heirloom to my house," just because I have a perverse sense of humor. And, as luck would have it, I won some money in the company Super Bowl pool - so Cameron isn't going to have to cash in any savings bonds this time.

I know that the time is coming when window-breaking won't be particularly funny - but for now, all I can do is shake my head and grin. Poor kid.