Cycling or spinning

I'm spending today trying not to be annoyed.
It started with my 5 year old "coloring in" the oak table in the living room (no I did not miss a word)
I love the oak table. It's old. Really old. The top of it painstakingly crafted in a herringbone design by some dedicated worker years ago.
It is beautiful.  Really beautiful. Except, now it's beautiful and covered in pen.

True, he didn't plan to color in the table. That wasn't what he set out to do. He was drawing a picture of Darth Vader But he was so involved in creating the greatest depiction of evil -  that even though he was destroying something grown centuries ago and crafted patiently over time by skilled workmen - he kinda, somehow, figured it "collateral".

Once he was done, he came and confessed to me. He said he was sorry. He showed me where the dammage was. He apologized again when he saw my expression and his bottom lip quivered and he promptly went off to "tidy his room."
I attacked the table first with WD40 pen and then furniture polish.
Nothing. It'll take a lot more than that to take the stain away.

Then I turned on the radio. Apparently Lance Armstrong met with Oprah . Apparently he told her how sorry he was.  He didn't really mean to do anything bad, he was just focussed on winning and yes he knew they were illegal but...
The radio was turned off.

Course my 5 year old and Lance Armstrong are completely different:
Obviously my 5 year old is still a child. So young in fact you have to put all medications on a high shelf in case he should think they're candy.

Also my 5 year old when he finished his drawing, handed it to his brother, saying "use this for identification purposes. This is what bad looks like. See this and inform the nearest adult."

My 5 year old didn't try to blame his brother. Didn't claim his brother had done it too once. Didn't discredit his brother. Didn't threaten his brother. And even though he doesn't know what the word 'litigation' means - even if he did, he wouldn't have used that on his brother either.

Lastly, when my 5 year old tearfully apologizes, you know for sure he means it.

My son at 5 years old, doesn't tell me what he's done wrong, hoping I'll let him draw on the table again.  Instead he acknowledges what upset he has caused, and then does whatever he can to make things better.

I know that, as years pass, I will look at the pen marks on the oak table. and they'll remind me of my 5 year old. When he's a full grown man, I'll see them and remember how he was really trying to do the right thing, but just got kind of distracted.

Guess me and Linda Armstrong don't have much in common either.