The Visible Woman...June 3, 2003

A day when I think about kids and how fast they grow up and yet how young and dependent they stay.

My great nephew had his first soccer practice today. Of course it's a lark to have organized sports for three-year-olds. My niece didn't care if he decided to play or not. She just wanted to give him a chance to be with some other kids. The coach was an earnest fifteen-year-old girl. Some kids were into it. The girls all seemed comfortable trying. One boy seemed older, a ringer. One boy was more terrified than my great nephew. He was crying and saying he was afraid. Jack just didn't want to do it. He kicks the ball, plays all kinds of games with his parents. He's very mature physically. But he sensed that this was a transition he didn't want to make. From baby to man in one leap.

Indeed, later in the week when he has a game, he will try to revert to baby. He'll crawl or lie down in the grass and want to ride the stroller. I think he saw it as a possibility of being abandoned. Even though both parents, me, his aunt and her boyfriend came to practice and both parents and I to the game. I think he thought we were sending him to the wolves.

And, well, you know we big people do that. We send the kids off to fend for themselves. But, for now, he doesn't have to play if he doesn't want to.

Tuesday, June 3, 2003

A Journal from Austin, Texas. A Project of LBFFP Stealth Publishing.
food	reading	writing	time	exercise	health and mood

number seven at fourteen months, he seems eager but how will he feel when he's three and the pressure is on? "Youth is born to be disillusioned and, when the process is over, youth is also over." unattributed in 20,000 Quips and Quotes edited by Evan Esar	too young A day when I think about kids and how fast they grow up and yet how young and dependent they stay. My great nephew had his first soccer practice today. Of course it's a lark to have organized sports for three-year-olds. My niece didn't care if he decided to play or not. She just wanted to give him a chance to be with some other kids. The coach was an earnest fifteen-year-old girl. Some kids were into it. The girls all seemed comfortable trying. One boy seemed older, a ringer. One boy was more terrified than my great nephew. He was crying and saying he was afraid. Jack just didn't want to do it. He kicks the ball, plays all kinds of games with his parents. He's very mature physically. But he sensed that this was a transition he didn't want to make. From baby to man in one leap. Indeed, later in the week when he has a game, he will try to revert to baby. He'll crawl or lie down in the grass and want to ride the stroller. I think he saw it as a possibility of being abandoned. Even though both parents, me, his aunt and her boyfriend came to practice and both parents and I to the game. I think he thought we were sending him to the wolves. And, well, you know we big people do that. We send the kids off to fend for themselves. But, for now, he doesn't have to play if he doesn't want to.
JUST TYPING A boy thinks the game is serious. Unfortunately, so do some of the parents. Sports wins and losses will propel more andrenaline for some people, in their lives, than the real events of their fortune.
		Food Diary. big plate of spinach enchiladas, some chicken salad and bread and fruit, maybe a drink later on
		Time flies.... We rode the light rail from end to end today and had some Mexican food at the other end in a neighborhood of Denver that is a little down at the heels. It took some time but it was entertaining. I watched three-year-olds have a 'soccer practice.' I worried over my sister. I had a picnic with my nieces and their guys and the kids. I chased the little one around as he tried to steal a soccer ball to play with, eat rocks, eat discarded potato chips and climb over parking curbs.

		Reading. Reading old papers.
		What's my excuse today? The pen is silent.
		Exercise Did a walk around the neighborhood of a few miles.
	.	Mood's a little better.