Trotter Cobb, a retired Mountain Brook businessman, enjoys writing about his family and reflecting on life.
A wheel, a 23-year-old son who is seven, and mindless activities giving meaning to my life. These are what this story is about. It all begins in our home, every night right after the news, five nights a week. It’s at that moment that my wife Anne, our special needs son who we call Trot, and I sit down together to watch the TV game show “Wheel of Fortune.”
No talking allowed during the show. It’s a rule. Anne and Trot made it. It’s to keep me quiet while they work together to answer Pat and Vanna’s questions before the contestants do.
They love the show and I hate it — but I still watch, faking enthusiasm. We all make compromises, especially with our spouses and kids. In the words of one famous Southern politician, Sam Rayburn, “to get along you have to go along.” And, as the ultimate act of compromise, foolishness some might say, I even bought Trot a “Wheel of Fortune” game.
Why not? I figured I can’t buy him a car, set him up in his own apartment, buy him new clothes for his new job, or any of those other rite of passage things that fathers do for their 23-year-old sons. And, yep, I love him so much I’d do anything for him.
So there you have it — Wheel Of Fortune — an annoying game but even more a metaphor of my life in some ways; a constant spinning, a finite wheel, repetition, repetition, repetition.
It’s a nuisance to me sometimes. Maybe I am working on my computer, or watching the news, and all of sudden here comes Trot; he wants to play Wheel of Fortune — the same game over and over. He’s played it thousands of times: “I won $1,000,000 for YOU!” he tells me over and over.
But what caught me by surprise recently is that Wheel of Fortune also has become a source of joy.
In this Covid environment, where everything is limited, and free movement and free choice have given way to repetition, repetition, repetition, it is that dang Wheel of Fortune game and Trot wanting to play it over and over, that is bringing tranquility and an abnormal normalcy to my life. It is both a rhythm and a rhyme, recurring constantly.
Why? Because it’s the only place that I’m having care-free fun these days; the only space where absurdity dwarfs reality, disrupting my preoccupation with Covid, germs, rising cases, being locked up physically and mentally, and feeling that my heart and soul are under house arrest.
Pat, Vanna, Anne, Trot and me — all sharing space. But in the spinning, the literal and figurative round and round, I realize I am redefining my life and deepening my bond with my 23-year-old man-child son who I love so much.
The housebound time I am spending with Trot, I want to be good time. I don’t know if he’ll remember it in the future, but I will. If that means being more tolerant of his fixation with Wheel of Fortune, so be it.
I’m making an effort to be in his world more, which requires me to be a child — to be silly and giggly with him, especially as he improvises and does commercials and imagines — or perhaps truly believes — that he is hosting Wheel of Fortune.
He’s even invented his own game, “Wheel of Color.” He also wants to play that one over and over and over. He’s the announcer, Anne and I are the contestants, and his announcer’s shtick and the results never change. What I love best about Wheel of Color, is that in this game there are no material prizes. There is something better — emotional prizes, which I have come to learn are of even greater value and last much longer.
I married a woman of deep religious faith who always smiles, is always engaged with him and never looks bored or irritated when it comes to Trot. How fortunate I am to have the two of them.
Six months ago, I hated all this. I was too busy, too impatient, too many things to do that day, too many places to go. Today — whether it’s “Wheel of Fortune” or “Wheel of Color” or both, I’m in. Indeed, to put it mildly, I now have time to play along.
The Link LonkSeptember 25, 2020 at 03:30AM
https://www.al.com/opinion/2020/09/wheel-of-fortunate-covid-life-reminds-me-how-lucky-i-am.html
‘Wheel of Fortunate’: Covid life reminds me how lucky I am - AL.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=Wheel&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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