Monday, 7/21

I wonder what the 12 year old me would think of me today?

I'm sure the 12 year old me would think of a couple of things, the first being that the me of today is really, really old.  Heck, the me of today thinks I'm really, really old, so that's something the two of us have in common.  But another thing might cause the 12 year old me to be shocked.

When I was a kid—6, 12, whatever--I was a kid who was not an athlete at all.  I couldn't really do anything well.  I had no muscle or no coordination.  I was tall & skinny and a dork.  I would rather read a book or watch “Lost in Space” than try to do something physical.  And, to be a stereotype, I was always the last person picked for a team.  One of the happiest days of my life was when I was in eighth grade and found out that I since I was in a band class I didn't have to take a gym class anymore.

That day was heaven on Earth.

Flash forward a bunch of decades.  Yesterday I spent 45 minutes in the morning lifting weights.  Then Loraine and I went out and played soccer for almost two hours.  And because I'm not enough of a glutton for punishment, I then rode my bike out to my sister's grocery store and back, a total of about 12 miles.

And that was just one day.  

I don't know what's changed over the years.  I think it's a combination of a lot of things, including me growing into my body, the fact that I married an actual athlete (who was actually on sports teams in her youth), and enough passage of time to erase the trauma of being picked last for every single thing.  No matter what the change, I think the 12-year old me would be flabbergasted by the way he's changed over the years.

Now, I'm not in any way an elite athlete.  I can't set records, and I'm sure that if you put me next to an elite athlete I'd probably perform much like I did when I was that 12 year old kid.  But I'm actually okay with that now.  I'm not big into competition with other people.  But I try to compete against myself.  I strive to be a little faster or ride a little farther or lift a little more than the previous time.  I'd like to think I don't suck quite as much as I did way back then.  And unlike all those decades ago, at an age when many of my contemporaries are slowing down, I actually seem to be speeding up, and I'm having fun doing what I do.

That's probably the biggest thing about which the 12 year old me would be astounded.  But I'm guessing he would be astounded in a good way.

A really, really good way.

Tomorrow--the story of the unique friends Loraine and I have made out on the soccer pitch.

(jim@wmqt.com)