Because of the Rings of Power, we listened to the Hobbit audiobook. I am fortunate that my sons are in that brief moment of wonder when they can speak their dreams, and hobgoblins are real and not part of Emerson’s foolish consistency. My sons love the silly details of the story, the dwarves washing dishes, and the songs of Trolls about how to best season a hobbit.
It was great to head back to the original text since the Industry now makes shows deep on footnotes. Marvel, Star Wars, and Game of Thrones have run out of their major characters and plots and are left with what feels like stray parts written on napkins.
We need more songs.
What is also great about the Hobbit is that the main character is a reluctant fifty-year-old with unused skills. This isn’t the X-Men with mutant teenagers nor Harry Potter with self absorb tweens. Rather this is about a guy who worries about the buttons on his coat or whether it is tea time.
Our fifties can still be times of adventure, even if it feels like the buttons are tighter.
The difference is that we have already made it through the prologue. We have the wisdom of stories past, and while the demons ahead are new, the courage we face them with is tested.
After the Hobbit, David wants to read the Fellowship of the Ring himself. He is half the size of the ideal reader, and I tried to explain to him that one does not simply wander into Tolkien. But this is the journey he wants to start, the burden he wants to carry.
There is a long road ahead of him before he gets to his fifties. He will make his own songs.
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