If I could just lodge a complaint here, I'd like to say that childhood really doesn't prepare you for being an adult. (And as a totally unrelated complaint, why, oh why, does Firefox flag the word "doesn't" as misspelled?)
Remember when you were a kid? There were awards for everything. There were the sports awards (I think I had a ribbon for every single heat I swam, plus medals, plus trophies, and I really wasn't even all that good) (and dammit, Firefox also claims that "wasn't" is misspelled. Argh!), and academic awards, and club awards. There was even an award for just showing up every day. (Technically, I still get that award -- it's called a paycheck.) (Oh sure, Firefox doesn't mind "it's"...)
Anyhow, at some point you stop getting crappy awards. (Except sometimes at work they give out stupid awards, but those are mostly to give your coworkers something to make fun of you about.)
One of the best moments of my life was when my sister won the top gymnastics prize. Okay, fine, there wasn't really a prize, and it theoretically wasn't even a competition. All the kids in Jojo the Enforcer's gymnastics group were supposed to come up with a routine (less than three minutes, I think) and perform it for the group. I think Jojo was about eight.
(This wasn't exactly Bela Karolyi's gym -- this was the Girls and Boys Club, where the taller kids had to be careful not to scrape the ceiling when doing handsprings on the pommel horse.)
Anyhow, Jojo and I found some music (Alan Parson's Project, if I recall) and worked on a routine. She did showy moves at appropriate times and ended with a flourish. Basically, the routine kicked ass.
It turns out that all the other kids didn't have me helping them (or maybe they just weren't as good as Jojo...), so their routines were random somersaults and cartwheels with no connection to the music. Then Jojo got out there and it was like they'd invited a professional to dance for them. Really. That's how good it was.
So, yeah, I think that was the highlight of my life. And it wasn't even me doing the gymnastics.
You just can't beat that.
4 comments:
and you roll your eyes at 'dance your ass off'?
Let it out, sister!
(or as a co-worker would say: 'Sister!!')
Jeff, it's the difference between reality and "reality television".
Repeat after me: the people in the box are not my friends.
the box or the reality zepplin?
Karen: To quote a close friend, "Huh?"
That's pretty non sequitur-ish even for you. I'm so proud.
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