Dad... you know what

A tiny hobbit moment on the walk to school

We’re walking to school in the morning. It’s quiet, chilly for this time of year, a weak sun coming through. Jorrit is holding my hand.

Every morning, the boys ask us to look up animals. There are rules. The animal has to be exactly their size. And it usually needs superpowers. It has to fly, swim AND be the best digger in the world.

Today’s request is a tricky one: a fish that’s super intelligent and exactly as big as they are.

The answer: the reuzengoerami. A giant gourami. Very inquisitive, very curious, known for taking a bite out of everything to explore it.

So Tijmen is the reuzengoerami today. He’s been biting the air at everything he sees.

But we hadn’t landed on an animal for Jorrit yet.

Then, still holding my hand, he says:

“Dad... you know what... Today, I’ll just be Jorrit.”

“But I’m not even sure what Jorrit can do. He has not seen that many adventures. But I would love to find out.”

Every single day, they pick animals because of what those animals can do. Fly. Swim. Dig better than anyone on earth.

Today Jorrit picked the one animal whose powers are unknown.

Himself.

And the way he said it sounded like the opening of Lord of the Rings. A small hobbit at the door. Not many adventures behind him. All of them still ahead.

It reminded me of one of my own visuals:

Same acorn. Two futures. The only difference is what it believes it can become. And the acorn doesn’t know it can be a tree either. It just grows and finds out.

So I’m stealing his sentence. Next time I catch myself thinking “I’ve never done that”, I’m replacing it with his version.

I’m not sure what I can do. But I would love to find out.

What’s that for you? The thing you’d love to find out if you can do?

Hidde

P.S. Tijmen stayed a reuzengoerami all day. Nothing was safe.