A good day

Our local Kiwanis Club sponsors an annual Junior Olympics for grades K-6.  It is held each year in May at our high school track, and some members of the high school track team are always there to assist with the events.  I really appreciate the Kiwanis Club for making this investment in our kids, but I also give props to the high school track team members who participate.  The students who are there each year enthusiastically volunteer their Saturday morning, and they seem to really enjoy working with the possible future members of the track team to follow in their shoes.  They are always very encouraging of all the kids, no matter their abilities.

The event was this Saturday, and the weather was perfect.  Dylan, Zachary and Lily participated this year, and both my parents and Jen's parents came to cheer on their Grandkids.  I was never an athlete in school, but I considered joining the track team, and I think I would have enjoyed it.  Jen was taking pictures, and I was supposed to be watching Ben.  At one point in the first competition (Zachary's long jump) I got so involved in cheering for Zachary and Blake (our Pastor's son), that I lost Benny.  There was a moment of panic until we spotted him climbing to the top of the bleachers.  Actually, Zachary spotted him and was yelling and pointing from the field, while waiting for his turn to jump.  Fortunately, the bleachers were enclosed by fencing, but there was still plenty of opportunity for a kid like Benny to get hurt.  That was my "wake up call"... I didn't lose Benny any more, when he was in my charge!

Zachary measured 9'-5" in the long jump, earning him the silver medal, just 3" short of gold.

Lily took the bronze medal in the standing jump.

This was Lily's first year to participate.

Zachary won the gold medal in the obstacle course.

Lily ran the 50M for a silver medal.

This was Dylan's last year to participate and he had a rough and disappointing day.  He signed up to run the 50M, the 100M and the 200M.  He ran the 50M first and pulled a muscle in his upper thigh just short of the finish line.  He was solidly in 2nd place when he pulled the muscle, but limped across the finish line in last place (4th), just seconds away from 3rd.  He limped off the track with a few tears in his eyes, in quite a bit of pain and disappointment, knowing he was out of the competition for the day.  He sat in the stands and watched as the other boys ran the 100M and 200M.

Zachary's third event was the 100M, earning him another silver medal.

 

If you look in the background of this photo, you'll see that Benny was not going to miss out on the running action.  He was getting restless, so Jen's Dad took him out to play on the other side of the field, during the last of the awards ceremony.  At this point, he got away, and ran for freedom across the field.  Here you see him ahead of my Father-In-Law, and about to be cut off by Zachary.

Jen's parent's treated us to lunch at Arby's afterwards and I came home and spent the afternoon working on the final trim needed for the living room to be ready for the soon-to-be-installed carpet.  I knocked off at dinner time.  After dinner, Benny and I took a nice walk to a local park to play and to scout a possible geocache hiding spot.

Early that evening, I casually mentioned that it looked like a good night for sleeping in the tent. I wasn't really serious about doing it, but Zachary latched onto that and really wanted to. Jen wisely reminded me that I shouldn't "put it out there" if I wasn't serious. She was right, so I grabbed the 8 x10 (we own four different tents of various sizes), which goes up quickly. We popped it up in the backyard, grabbed some sleeping pads and bags, and built a backyard fire. After all this, I checked the forecast... mid 40's for the low. Chilly, but the mummy bags can handle that. The last time we tried to camp with Benny, he didn't do so well with sleeping in the tent. Jen suggested that I include him in our "guys night" to see how he would do. I didn't think he'd like a mummy bag, so I put him in a kid-sized rectangular, in his footed fleece sleeper and a fleece hat, with an extra blanket over him. He slept solidly until about 5 AM, when he woke up toasty warm, but wanting Mama. I could have probably got him back to sleep, but he was making a rucus and I didn't want to wake the neighbors, so we all four just grabbed our pillows and went to the house for the last few hours of the morning.

It was one of those Saturdays when it was a good day to be a Dad!

it wearies me

There are some social situations that weary me.  I could go so far as to call them social pet peeves.  Two, in particular, have been popping up more than usual, lately.  Granted, I'm a bit of an anomaly in these areas.  I am who I am, but I wasn't made to always fit perfectly in this current world.

The first social peeve:  Team sports.  I have no real use for team sports.  I know, I know... it's the holy grail of American society, but they really do nothing for me, particularly, of the professional variety.

(Let me just clarify, though, that if one of my kids were interested enough in a sport to convince me (and I can be convinced) to let them play, I'd be their biggest fan... even if I didn't understand the game very well; which I often don't, since I follow so little of any sports). 

Here's my deal:  It's simple... my Dad was never into team sports, so I didn't grow up having any interest in watching or playing any team sports.  That's all.  (Although, I briefly considered running track in school.)

OK.  My opinion here.  But, isn't it a bunch of spoiled millionaires playing a game that has become so high-tech and sophisticated that there is no real "sport" left?  And, everyone takes it so seriously... spending billions every year to support the system and fuel the obsession right down to youth sports.  When five year-old T-ball teams practice 2-3 evenings a week and arguments or brawls break out in the stands over an error or a bad call, isn't it safe to say we, as a society, have taken sports a little too seriously?  What about the old adage, "it's just a game"?  I know, what a cold, crass opinion, right?  But, MY blog... MY opinion!

(And, while I'm on my soapbox, let me establish a few things for the record:  Being a non-team sports person does not equal being non-athletic!  I enjoy walking, hiking, cycling, and backpacking... all of which could fall in the category of athletics/sports, and all of which require physical participation, not just watching someone else participate.  Frankly, a lot of avid sports enthusiasts are anything but athletic!)

But, the pet peeve isn't that sports exist.  It isn't even that you may have an interest, or possibly a passion, for sports.  That's fine.  The peeve is that sports are so inseparable from being an American, especially an American male, that I become an anomaly just for choosing to take no interest.  Try making social small talk if you're a non-sports American male... virtually impossible.  A classic example (that helped spark this post) is the mandatory daily morning sports meetings sales meetings at our car dealership.  I regularly sit there, with no input or interest, and listen to all the armchair athletes passionately debate what should'a could'a would'a been done in the previous days sports matches.

It wearies me.

The second social peeve:  Introverted people are not very well understood by much of the population.  It seems more attractive and accepted to be extroverted... to the point where some introverted people miserably pretend to be extroverted in some situations.

Of course, there are levels and degrees of introversion and extroversion.  I am probably extremely introverted... to the point where I frustrate my moderately introverted (with extroverted tendencies) wife.  While I'm not [quite] a total hermit, I like being home, and I like being with my family.

"The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family"  --Thomas Jefferson

Where this becomes a social peeve is when people do not understand or accept that this is just the way the Creator of the Universe wired some of us to operate.  A classic example (that also helped spark this post) is office parties.  I despise office parties or company Christmas parties.*  I don't despise co-workers (usually), I just don't like to spend additional time away from my home and family to spend more time with the people with which I already spend the large majority of my time, probably doing a lot of social peeve #1...

I work with some nice people.  I get along (despite my lack of sports-talk) with everyone at my workplace.  Thankfully, I was spared the misery of a formal company Christmas party.  But, a few of the guys organized an after work dinner/drink social at a local restaurant last week.  I didn't want REALLY didn't want to go.  It's not all about finances, whether or not I drink, or any of that...I'm just not wired to enjoy these settings.  But, my wiring is hard for many to understand or accept.  I'm easily labelled "antisocial"... but... doesn't that kinda parallel the definition of introversion?  Hmmmm

I didn't go, but not without feeling social peer pressure (and people think peer pressure is just a teenage phenomenon!)  And, a few co-workers (probably the ones with introverted tendencies) confided that they'd really rather not go, but felt they "had to".  What?  Had to?  How old are we?  Why can't we just be who we are comfortable being and be accepted for that?  Extroversion might be the easier of the two social spectrums, but it's not necessarily better!

It wearies me.

* ... with the one exception of PLD Christmas parties.  PLD has been known to read this blog, is a past employer, a good friend, and hosts family company Christmas parties that even this introvert can appreciate and enjoy!