We got hit with another snowstorm here on Tuesday evening. It didn't stick around long, but it put a nice six-inch blanket over the city and caused school to be canceled Wednesday. There also was no school yesterday nor is there any on Monday, so they got a reverse week -- two days of school, five days off. I asked the boys why there was no school yesterday, and they said "because its Valentine's Day!" and I was like, "No, that's not a day you usually get off," and they insisted that it was. Of course, it isn't, but it was this year, because it happened to be a staff day at each of their schools. Why couldn't it have been flexed into a makeup day for one of the snow days they missed? I have no idea, but I don't want to go down that complaint avenue again.
It's weird, we are getting, like, a real winter this year. I thought global warming had eradicated the real winter in this part of the world, but apparently not completely. It looked like the weather was going to turn for good, as just last week we reached the low 60s, but it snapped back and is quite cold again. This coming week we are supposed to get another snowstorm, and I couldn't be less happy about it, as it could really mess up some travel plans. I'm leaving for a (hopefully) short business trip on Tuesday afternoon. I'm going to a meeting on Wednesday and then returning home Thursday afternoon. That's the plan, anyway. But the show is supposed come here on Wednesday and continue on Thursday, and it could be a lot. As if that's not bad enough, it's also supposed to snow where I'm going on Wednesday. So, I've got to worry about it on both ends. Travel is stressful enough when conditions are good; it's absolutely dreadful when they are not. It's a cavalcade of delays and cancellations. I'm having premonitions of being stuck in an airport or a moderately priced hotel. (And I have a lot going on I need to back for next weekend.) If it was up to me, I would think long and hard about rescheduling this meeting or making it virtual. But, alas, it is not up to me.
One of the things I want to get back for next weekend is Lil' S2's flag football game. They made it to the semifinals, and it's pretty cool. They've been struggling all year to get their best lineup on the field. A bunch of players missed games with the flu (including Suren last week), and they lost a bunch of close games. So, they came into the playoffs as the 8th seed (out of 10) and had to win a play-in game just to make the main tournament. But they won that this morning (by a 32-6 score), and then they beat the number one seed right afterwards. Both teams only had six kids -- the exact number needed to field a team, so neither side had any subs -- but the other team was missing some of their top players, whereas we had our best players, and we won handily (19-0). It's funny how these games are determined by what 9-year-old gets sick when and what families decide to go skiing for the long weekend, but that's the beauty of kids sports. Honestly, it's not that different from the NFL, in which the most important games are often decided by what star players didn't blow out their ACLs and aren't in concussion protocol.
Football is such a brutal sport, man. I mean, flag football is just as safe as any other youth sport, but it is definitely a gateway drug to the real thing. Lil' S2 has already been asking if he can play tackle. We're saying no for now, but in a few more years, who knows? The thing is, I think he might be better at tackle than flag. He probably doesn't have the speed to play the skill positions, but he's pretty tough and sturdy for his age, so I'm thinking offensive line. He actually can catch quite well -- he caught four or five passes today including a touchdown and a conversion -- so maybe even tight end. There's definitely a part of me that wants to see how he does in tackle football. On the other hand, however, football is such a brutal sport, man.
Lil' S1 is also doing a sport right now. He's on the swim team at his school. We basically forced him to do it. I'm not into making my kids do any particular activity, but I am into making them do a particular type of activity. We told Lil' S1 he has to do some sort of physical activity regularly -- participating on a sports team, taking a martial arts class, joining a climbing gym -- something involving physical movement in a recurring, structured setting. (Occasionally walking to the store to buy baking ingredients -- his preferred method of exercise -- doesn't count.) So, he picked swim, and he says he loves it. I went to one of his meets the other day. He did the 50-free and finished eighth out of ten swimmers -- not last! I only watched his heat (it was a tiny venue and there was no place to sit), and he finished in the middle out of three kids, so I went away satisfied. I mean, it wouldn't be that big a deal if he was last -- somebody has to be -- but I must admit, I did feel a bit of a relief that it wasn't him.
The thing is, he's always been a competent swimmer, and he probably could be pretty good if he put some effort into it, but I don't think he wants to. In fact, I don't know for sure, but I get the impression that one of the reasons he likes swimming is because the practices aren't that hard.* Well, whatever, at least it's a few hours after school in which he's not staring staring at a screen. Apparently, he's doing golf in the spring. We'll see how that goes.
*His school has a no-cut policy in sports, and from what I gather, the way they handle this on swim team is to have a "well squad" that does a less strenuous, less serious practice than the other kids in the well of the pool. Lil' S1 is on the well squad and talks about how great it is.
Until next time...
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