One of the recurring conversations that Sebastian likes to have with me is talking about how his daily routine will be when he’s grown up. This started when he was quite small, maybe five, when he learned that his preferred job, being the guy who goes up in the cherry picker, isn’t the best paid job in the world. Starting from then, he wanted to explore ways that he could do more than one job, while also being an involved father. His solutions over the years have been very interesting and creative, including being a full-time professional soccer player Monday – Friday, and running a veterinary clinic on the weekends. The rationale for that is that people will have to pay a premium for veterinary services on Saturday and Sunday, when most vets are not working, so he’ll make loads of money that way.
He’s also devised plans that involve him, his best friend, their wives and their children all living with my mum in her basement suite, plans that have him and his best friend owning a grocery store together, and lots of variations on the theme of starving comic book artist/FC Barcelona player.
I’m sad that I haven’t written down these conversations verbatim since they started happening, but no time like the present, so here is a snippet of the one from last night. This one is surprisingly vague on the details of the actual work, but centred around the idea of having a home-cooked meal ready for him once the rigours of the day have ceased. It sounds familiar…
“When I grow up, I’m going to get up in the morning, brush my teeth, get ready for work, and go to work. Then I’m going to come home from work around 6 or 7 o’clock. My….(forgetting the word) wife will be cooking dinner and we’ll eat the dinner.”
“But what about if she has a job too?”
“Well she’ll come home from her job around 5pm.”
“But what if she has to work later than that? What if she doesn’t come home until the same time you come home?”
(thinks)
“Then… (shrugs shoulders) …we’re screwed.”
“Well, couldn’t you cook the dinner?”
(rubs his temples, shakes his head)
“I don’t know how to. It’ll be like ‘Hey kids, want to have, um, tomatoes for dinner? Sliced tomatoes? Tomato triangles? Yummmmm!’ “
I started laughing at this point. Tomatoes triangles indeed! We’ve got to get back on the kookles program around here.
Rebeca Dunn-Krahn 