bunt sign

Tuesday, October 4, 2005

There are things I’d change about myself if I could. Actually, that’s probably not the right way to put that. What I mean is, there are things I’d change about myself if it were easy. Not easy? Not interested.

But as I was listening to D.J. chatter in the back seat on the way home from school today, I thought, “Why can’t I be more like this kid?”

He started by telling me about the new friend he made. Sometimes this other kid is a pain, but he helped D.J. when he got hurt on the playground. (They later collaborated on removing the bandage, since he didn’t really need it.) Some of the other kids don’t like D.J.’s new friend, because he can be annoying. The big selling point was that this new friend didn’t mind that D.J. already had other friends. I don’t know how first grade dynamics work, exactly, but apparently that could have been a problem.

I have to admit I didn’t follow everything he told me about his new friend. The friend said a bad word, but D.J. didn’t hold it against him because it was an accident. The bad word, it turns out, was “shut up,” which the boy had said when some girls told him to be quiet. As in, “Be quiet,” as opposed to the bad way of saying it.

“Uncle Mike,” he told me, “when you make a friend, you stay friends forever.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. (Or to remind him of it, since like most of us, he has a lot of ex-friends.) In a way, I am like him, because I often choose to believe Hallmark sentiments even though I know reality is usually more Beavis and Butthead than Care Bears.




20 September 2005

Western skyline.



What I really admire is his openness. He and his new friend were benched at first recess (but not at lunch) today, and when I asked him why, he told me. It wasn’t anything much, just that the teacher had asked him to stop banging his feet on his chair and he had done it again. Why? “I just forgot.” Well, that happens. And I’m only telling you this because he would tell you himself if he had a chance. All you have to do is be willing to listen.




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Stuff

When Chris Carpenter had to leave the game in the seventh inning with an injury, the Cardinals had a safe 8-0 lead in game one of their series. But the Padres didn’t win the west by giving up just because they stunk. They scored five runs in the last three innings and had the tying runs on base when Jason Isringhausen struck out Ramon Hernandez to end the game, with the Cardinals winning, 8-5... In their own game one, the White Sox, who hadn’t won a postseason game since 1959, beat the Red Sox, who had won eight straight on their way to last year’s championship, 14-2... And as much as I’d love to hate the Yankees, I have a special feeling for the Angels and was not sorry to see them lose, 4-2, although they also had the tying run at the plate when the game ended. Besides, these aren’t anybody’s mighty Yankees; they’re as much a patchwork team as anyone in the playoffs.

For other journal recommendations, check out the links page.


One year ago: Vacancy
"I wouldn’t miss them if they disappeared. So why can’t I just disappear them?"


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