Good gawd! There’s 2 of him!

Obviously some sort of rift in the space time continuum.

I gave my nephew a couple of gifts this weekend. One is a bracelet of wooden Tibetan beads. It was too small to fit me, and I knew it would fit him. You can make it out on his right wrist.

He tells me how cool he thinks my hydration bladders are on a regular basis. I bought him a pack a few years ago, when he was four. (Somewhat similar-ish to this, but not quite.) It came with a Source 3L bladder, but I didn’t think he was ready for it at that age. Still not entirely sure he is now, but what the heck. I gave it to him and he was thrilled.

I had also bought him a Swiss Army Knife about six years ago. I was buying a knife from an online retailer and I got the My First Victorinox for him at the same time, figuring at some point in the future, the time would be right. Being quite the negotiator, he is forever asking his dad and I when we think he can have one. He had been given a small, unspeakably crappy, dollar store multi-tool, that he was using to separate parts when we were playing Lego a while ago. I was pleased to see that he was using it very safely and responsibly. Figured it was time. (That is the reason I got my first pocket knife - to separate stubborn Lego pieces. Still use it for that purpose actually. Yeah, I’m a dork all right?)

He got a very stern talking to, told what to do and not do with it, and warned that the slightest infraction of the rules would see it disappear, post-haste. (It’s funny that I was about his age when I got my first knife and carried it to school in my pocket every day from that point on. I’ve never threatened or stabbed anyone with a knife in the intervening 35 years - imagine that! But sadly, we now live in a lamer era. I mean.... a safer time of gentle, socially responsible, political correctness.)

It’s perhaps because of my disgust with these foolish and misguided efforts, that I want him to learn how to use a knife safely and properly. There is nothing wrong with a boy learning to use one of the oldest and most basic tools, for the tasks it was meant for. When I see grown men who are about as handy as a beached whale, I know I definitely don’t want him to grow up to be like that. To me a simple pocket knife is emblematic of that - a mentality of self-sufficiency.

I think I received high praise when I was told “Thanks uncle Thomas! You’re the most epic-est uncle ever!”

We headed off for a fun hike afterwards, which I was told was also “totally epic.” Which I guess is good. I don’t know any more – these youngsters and all their terms.