Sunday, 6 June 2021

Ancient History

It’s nice to finally be able to visit the children again after several months of seeing them only virtually. We had a BBQ in their backyard yesterday and lots of laughs. The conversation turned to dinosaurs at one point, and I told my grandson Victor that I had seen some when I was younger. He was, understandably, a bit skeptical about my claim and said, “How could you have seen dinosaurs? They lived millions of years ago!” My response, “Grandpapa is old, very, very old!”

When I was a grade 7 teacher and taught ancient history to the kids, I loved learning with them about Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics, the process of mummification…  One day, while talking to them about pharaohs, I pretended to reminisce about the olden days and wistfully, as if recalling cherished memories, said, “Ah, Tutankhamun! I knew him well.” To my amazement, I could see in the eyes of the kids that they believed me! I was 35 at the time and, no doubt, I looked fairly ancient to them!

I always enjoyed laughing with the children and they would often manage to say or do something that would bring on laughter. On a social studies quiz following a unit on burial rites in ancient Egypt, one young lad described the mummification process and referred to the removal of the internal organs as the “emptying of the abominable captivity.” How can one not have a good laugh at that!

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