TOUGHENING UP COTTER

Remember my story about "The Marble Machine"? The grandchildren and I and Gene are still building on it. It's a work in progress, and we'll give you a better video view in a few weeks(months) . . according to our speed.

My 8 year old grandson, Cotter McAnally, was working on the project this summer, and we have been using a lot of hot glue for the machine. He accidentally got some glue on his finger, and he began to cry and run around. It seemed to burn him some, but I really didn't think it was much of a problem. So I did my GDad thing . . I told him it would be okay. Don't worry about it. Let's just keep working on our machine. So he did, but later on, we had to put some aloe vera on it to cool it down.

After Cotter was gone, I was working on the project and was again using the hot glue gun. I put a large glob of glue on some wood, and then I accidentally stuck my thunb on the glob. It began instantaneously to do what all hot glue does. It began to glue my finger. I yelled out and stuck it in my mouth, hoping to cool it off and to pull it away from my finger. I must stay that that worked fine except for one small factor. It didn't pull away from my finger. It tore the skin and some flesh off as I gnawed at it with my teeth. I've attached a picture if you're brave enough to see it.

Now, for the final story. I went back to Cotter and give him my sincere apology for not being more sympathetic with his injury. I didn't know hot glue could hurt so much, but I learned. I also learned how to be a better GDad in the process. After all, as an 8 year old, he's still learning the "facts" of life. I'm old enough to know better, but I'm not too old to learn.

I suppose criticism can go both ways. My grandchildren are so far out ahead of me in the area of technology. They are digital natives, and I am a digital immigrant. I'm trying to keep up and to learn, but it's not easy to learn a new language. I think I'll just call on them when I need some help. I hope Cotter doesn't criticize me too much when I do some crazy technology things and speak a different tongue.

By the way, the picture above of Cotter is not from the Marble Machine. It is where Cotter departed from his rolling scooter and had a dramatic meeting with the asphalt road.