What would it be like?

Today I am lucky enough to go to court. No, I am not in any kind of trouble, nor did I rob a bank, run a red light, or anything like that. I was lucky enough to be a witness to a fight that took place on our street over a year ago. I went to the Juvenile court last year when subpoenaed and after sitting for half a day was told that the case had been dismissed. Well, I guess it is not.

The incident that I am going for happened when a bunch of out of control kids showed up drunk to a party, and the party grew to the point that there was no cance of managing it.

The night of the incident I remember looking around at all the kids on the street, and as a parent was shocked at the disrespect, improper behaviour, foul mouths and drunkenness and hope that as a parent I won't have to face the disappointment of a wayward child.

I was also a little shocked to see all of the other kids that were there that were not the instigators, but were more than happy to sit in the background and watch the drama unfold, but didn't stand up to the kids that were creating the problem. I know that as I get older, I now am seeing a bigger and bigger gap between my relationships with the teenagers. I used to think that I was one of the cool guys that could relate and even slightly blend in. This illusion is shattered, and the reality is that they view me as the old, balding guy with the pants hiked up below the chest, or sagging down (depending on the day).



I am fine with my role as an adult, I love to hear from my Sunday School class about what they are doing and going through. I like that Cody Milford still refers to me as Coach Ron. (He does this as an inside joke, seeing how I was the most clueless coach to ever step on a flag football field).

I also love that as an adult I can watch some of the kids and think how much they have too look forward to, and realize that right now they don't have the weight of the world to carry on their shoulders. I look at my own kids with pride. This morning as I was up in my room, I heard Jeff and Tim were running late for Seminary. They had slept in and it looked like they were going to miss today. This hardly ever happens so I was not too bothered by it, but then I heard Jeff sit down at the piano it made me stop and think, "What would it be like".



What would it be like to be able to sit down at a piano, open a book with a lot of black dots and squiggle lines, be able to make sense of what it is saying and be able to play a song that you like. Or open a math book with even more squigly lines and understand what it meant and know how to solve the problems.



What would it be like to be like Tim that has a passion for football. How would it feel to be at the line when the quarterback snaps the ball and know what the other team has called for their play based on their formation and the way that they are running. How would it feel to hurl your body through the air and make the tackle that ends the play, and possibly impacts the final results of the game.



How would it be to be a middle school cheerleader that is part of a large squad. Every move needs to be precise in order to make the routine work. What would the feeling be, to stand at a line waiting for the right moment to suddenly accelerate your body and then lunge forward, throwing yourself head over heels over and over again unison with the other tumblers.



How would it be to be able to run up and down a soccer field for a full game without wanting to hurl. What would be the thoughts running through your head be as you are sprinting down a field with a soccer ball, towards the other teams net. What would you do if there were several players that were in your way, but you could see the perfect route and manipulate the ball past them to score a goal.



These are the things that I like to think about as an adult. I don't think I live vicariously through my children, because I think they are far more talented than I ever was. But I love to watch them grow and find the things that they like. It is interesting to see the talents that they are blessed with, and the talents that they have developed through sheer determination and practice. I am happy to be an observer of these events, and realize that there are many, many more days that I have ahead that I can watch in awe as the surprise me and impress me. I will be forever grateful that I have the family that I do, they make life interesting and worth living.



Now as I go to court for one of the boys I realize that he is someones kid. Just to show what a small world we live in, I ran into him at the LaJolla Volleyball tournament last year. As a sober kid, he seemed like a nice enough boy. He was in California attending college and was a Freshman on the football team. I am sure that he has parents that are supportive of him and have had many of the same proud moments that I have experienced, I hope today that this will somehow end up as a positive thing for him and maybe a new direction has been charted in his life over the past year.