海角大神

It鈥檚 one of those questionnaires designed to elicit something about you through quick and pithy answers. I鈥檓 speeding through this one until I hit this question:聽

鈥淲hat strongly influenced you as a young child?鈥�

It鈥檚 not that I don鈥檛 have an answer 鈥� it鈥檚 just that my answer might seem odd. Is it too strange to say that I was strongly influenced by the place mats at my childhood breakfast table?

The place mats featured colorful chalk drawings of the great European cities. I don鈥檛 remember which of my parents bought them and I don鈥檛 know why we only seemed to use them at breakfast. What I do remember is how often my dad and I discussed them.

I had lots of questions. 鈥淲hy is there a bull in that picture?鈥� (The one of Madrid.) 鈥淲hy are there so many little boats?鈥� (Venice.)

My father was happy to talk to me about all the cities on the place mats, but the one featuring bookstalls along the River Seine in Paris always drew an extra measure of warmth.聽

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the most wonderful city in the world,鈥� he would tell me. 鈥淭he language they speak there is just like music.鈥�

鈥淏ut in each of these cities,鈥� he would add, 鈥渢hey all speak a different language. And they are all beautiful.鈥�

鈥淥h, Dad,鈥� I would say almost every morning. 鈥淚 want to go to all these cities. And hear all the languages. Can I?鈥� And he always gave me the same unwavering answer:

鈥淎bsolutely. You can and you will.鈥�

Of course, that wasn鈥檛 the only thing we talked about at breakfast. My dad was also a great lover of Broadway musicals. Not infrequently, he ushered me to the table with a song. 鈥淥h, What a Beautiful Morning鈥� was a natural, of course, but it might also be 鈥淥n the Street Where You Live鈥� or 鈥淚 Just Met a Girl Named Maria.鈥�

I loved them all and wanted to know the story behind each one. Why did the character sing those words? What did they mean? This often led us, over our cereal and toast, to some surprisingly deep questions. 鈥淗ow could the King of Siam be both so right and so wrong?鈥� and 鈥淲hy couldn鈥檛 the Sharks and the Jets just get along?鈥�

Whatever the discussion, I knew one thing for sure: I couldn鈥檛 wait to be a grown-up so I could go to the theater, too.聽

鈥淲ill I be able to see all these shows someday?鈥� I would ask. And my dad would answer, with the same confidence with which he assured me that I would travel and learn languages: 鈥淥f course. You can and you will.鈥�

Sometimes our conversations stayed closer to home. Talking about Broadway shows not infrequently brought us to another of my dad鈥檚 great loves: New York. Apart from his time at college and in the Army, he lived within a few miles of it all his life.聽

Sometimes he would list for me the fabulous things that one could do in New York: Eat oyster stew at Grand Central Terminal, stand between the lions at the Fifth Avenue public library, ride the Staten Island ferry. When I asked my usual question 鈥� 鈥淐an I do that, too?鈥� 鈥� he changed the pronoun for his answer.

鈥淥f course we can,鈥� he would tell me. 鈥淲e will.鈥� And we did.

It鈥檚 been some decades now since I鈥檝e been able to enjoy a meal with my dad. But the impressions of our early breakfasts together can be seen all over my r茅sum茅.聽

I spent two years of graduate school in Europe, including a full year in Paris. My degree in comparative literature required me to gain reading proficiency in Italian, French, Spanish, and German.

I lived in New York for 20 years as an adult. And to this day there鈥檚 never a month in which I don鈥檛 go to the theater at least twice.聽

So back to the questionnaire: 鈥淲hat strongly influenced you as a young child?鈥�

鈥淏reakfast with my dad,鈥� I write.

Follow-up: 鈥淲hy?鈥� That鈥檚 easy. 鈥淏ecause he told me that I could and I would. And so I did.鈥�

鈥淎nything you鈥檇 like to add?鈥� Oh yes. 鈥淭hanks, Dad, so very much.鈥澛�