Geeks Rule the World
On Friday, I had the chance to sit and eat lunch with Kaden at school. It was the most entertaining lunch that I’ve had in quite awhile
I asked Kaden who his friends are, and he pointed them out to me. “There’s Donovan, Luke, and Caleb, they’re all my friends.” As he was pointing this out to me I noticed that they were all sitting at another table, so I asked Kaden “if those are your friends, why are we sitting at a table with the girls?” He said “because you’re a girl.” Aww…. he wanted me to sit with the girls, and he sat with me. Kaden is really a sweetheart, so considerate!
So then, in sitting with the girls, we started talking. These girls were DIVAS, at six years old. The person in charge even asked if they were being nice to me, because apparently that is not one of their strengths. One of them, the obvious ringleader, told me “I’m way too old for Barbies, that’s SO for five year olds.” I was stunned. Then she proceeded to tell me all about how ugly the Disney princesses were, and how she’s just way too old for them. The guy in charge (the adult) told me later that he was shocked at some of the things the girls would say – that their parents shield them from nothing. I was really, truly, stunned.
The girls then told me all about the new Barbie movie that was coming out – and I was completely out of my element. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not a tomboy. I like girly things, like sparkles and fun colors and stuff like that. But I have a son. A 6-year-old, all boy, snakes and tarantulas and Star Wars son. So I had no idea what to say to these girls. So Kaden and I talked Star Wars. Finally, one of the little girls had listened to our conversation for awhile, and said “my dad and I play Star Wars Legos sometimes.” You could tell it took a lot for her to say that, because the other girls looked at her, shocked. I was so proud of her, I wanted to hug her and tell her “that’s right girl, be who you want to be, no matter what the others say.” But of course, I didn’t. I didn’t know this girl, that would have been weird right? So we just continued our discussion.
The girls went on and on about movies and fashion (at six?!) and were talking all about what is cool, what is not cool, and how they are just WAY too grown up for several things that even I still like… and Kaden spoke up. Now I expected something sarcastic – because even at his young age, he is very sarcastic with a quick wit. But he looked at them, dead serious, and said “did you know that Earth is the third planet from the sun?” He continued telling them all about the planets, and they looked back at him with blank stares.
My son, the geek. And I don’t mean that in a negative way whatsoever! He’s so flippin’ smart, it amazes me. And so funny!
Don’t worry about what anyone tells you Kaden, geeks rule the world. What did that email say… “If Michael Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 500 years, he’ll still have less than Bill Gates has at this very moment. Game over. Nerd wins.”
Embrace your intelligence, no one can ever take that away from you. Barbies, movies, fashion – those are tangible things, fun to talk about – but not what really matters.
Oh and just to show everyone how insanely cool Kaden is, here’s one of his favorite funny faces. I don’t know WHERE he gets his silliness from! ;)