Jocassee
the girl
May Saturday
State meet — the Girl won third in high jump, tying with three other girls.
Afterward, we had the Boy’s eleventh birthday party — it was much like the tenth, without the sleepover in the tents.
This Weekend
Upper State Champion
Throw
L won the javelin competition at the regional meet!
Regionals
Jokes
One of the things I love about teaching is the relationships I create with the kids I teach. We laugh together, fuss together (or rather, they fuss at me about how hard something is), have deep thoughtful moments together…
“Mr. S, you should put that picture on our class website!” the girl to the left declared. I didn’t, of course, put the drawing the girl on the right had created that she was none-too-proud of and mildly irritated at the thought of it being publicized.
After a moment, though, she added, “And put that picture I drew as well, so everyone knows what was going on…”
Vertical
This week, the Girl got what we hope was the first of several emails from college coaches who’ve seen her play at a tournament and are interested in recruiting her. Unfortunately, it’s a liberal arts school and so doesn’t fit into her plans to go into genetic engineering. But still, interest is interest.
One thing the Girl is lacking, though, is current stats, so we worked on that today. What is her blocking vertical? What is her hitting vertical? We had last year’s numbers, but we needed current numbers.
Let’s just say she’s improved…
Saturday Evening Downtown
We spent the evening downtown, the five of us — the two kids and the dog. It’s so rare that everyone’s schedules work out to let us do something like this. We’ll take every opportunity we have.
Our stroll eventually led us down to the river and the new Grand Bohemian hotel which is the latest highlight of the ever-developing downtown Greenville.
Eventually we made it down the the rocky area of the river just at the edge of the main downtown park, the place both of our kids loved to run about on the rocks as little kids.
“Those days are long gone” K and I constantly remind ourselves. And yet, every now and then, the stars align,
the kids are both fascinated with the same thing, and for a brief moment, we pop back a few years in the past.
Track Meet
High Jump
The Girl won first place in the high jump today.
First Meet
The Girl had her first meet today. As in, the first meet of her life, not just of the season. It was a monster all-day meet, with 35 schools competing. She took third in the varsity high jump.
Three Pairs of Shoes
The Girl has taken up field sports — javelin, discus, shot put (?!), and high jump. Today, here throwing shoes arrived, slick on the bottom to allow for maximum spin.
“Now I have three pairs of shoes to take to meets,” she laughed. That doesn’t count whatever she might wear to the meet.
Saturday
Our Girl
Volleyball in Rock Hill
The girls got second place in today’s tournament.
Curriculum Night
Tonight, I took the Boy to curriculum night at his zoned middle school. We’re still not sure if he’s going to the charter middle school L attended (he’s grandfathered in) or if he’s going to the zoned public school. Right now he’s leaning toward the latter: he’s interested in music, and he wants to play in band, which is not something the charter school offers.
We spoke to the band director for a while, talked to the strings teacher, looked at the instruments, talked about the advantages of each.
“I think I’m leaning to this school,” he said.
“My only concern,” I said, “is that the academics at this school won’t be at quite the level as the charter school.”
The Boy expressed that he’s okay with that, suggesting once again that he’s not such a smart guy as someone who needs those “high-level classes.”
K and I don’t know where this idea comes from. He gets great grades; he scores well on standardized tests — he just doesn’t see himself as a gifted person, certainly not as a thinker. He sees himself as perfectly academically average.
He couldn’t be more different than his sister…
Rings
Sunday Games
The Girl has slowly disappeared from this site though not for lack of interest on my part. She’s reticent to have photos taken; she is often not at home in the evenings, either at practice, the gym, the library, or just going to visit friends; the things we talk about don’t result in cute exchanges anymore but just honest sharing with each other — when she’s willing to share. She is, in short, a typical sixteen-year-old, and her withdrawal from this site mirrors a bit of a withdrawal from family life into her own, growing life.
So when she accepted an invitation this evening to come downstairs and play a board game with E and me, the temptation to take a picture was great, but I knew it would ruin the moment. K probably did, too, and didn’t even try a stealth shot. Instead, the three of us sat and played Sequence, chatting about nothing of any significance, just spending some time together. I played without a care, randomly placing my pieces with only the occasional intent — usually to block L’s pending sequence. She won anyway (she always wins board games), and though I would have played another, neither child was interested.
“Are they both just humoring me?” I thought as they walked away.
Sunday
The girls won the bronze bracket.
We went to visit family.
A good Sunday overall.