I spent the weekend with my soon-to-be four-year old godson and if I heard him say, "Watch me" once I heard it 50 times. He has two attentive parents, so he is not attention starved. But he has not seen me in a while and he wanted my attention. It got me to thinking how most of us not only want attention, but need it. It shows that we are worthy of attention.
It almost seemed like my wife was competing with this child for attention with her tales of her stay in the psychiatric hospital. I guess I have always loved attention myself. I was in school plays, took a job in radio and usually assend to supervisor positions at work. Still, I have found that it is even more enjoyable to allow people I love to have the attention then to have it myself.
I guess I'm still guilty of liking attention (after all, I have this blog), but I love to listen to N tell me about work and her friends (most of whom I don't know) and her views on politics and movies and whatever else she needs to say. I get more joy from showing her that she is worthy of attention than I get in receiving attention myself. What the hell, I've had enough attention in my life.
But just in case, "Watch me."
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