I Heard He Left Her For A Nineteen Year Old

This time of year I really notice the time change and things get stuck in my memory more often. We were driving to LMJ’s My Gym class and a kid who may be the son of a guy I went to school with was crossing in front of the van as we passed Robert E. Lee Senior High School (GO GENERALS!). He looked so much like the guy I went to school with I had to stare at him. It wasn’t obvious or confrontational, but I needed a good long look because my first thought was hey that’s so and so. I had to remind myself that the guy walking in front of the van was seventeen at the oldest. All of this happened in less than a second. A couple of miles down the road, as we passed FCCJ (GO STARS!) or whatever they’re calling themselves now, this same kid passed me in a green Ford Expedition. He was straight ballin’, beatin’ up the street with his 18” sub-woofers. I remember doing that twenty years ago, and I felt nostalgic and jealous at the same time. Then I saw that he had his blinker on and didn’t know it. For some reason this made me feel better. I also may be more observant because I’m not tired like I was last week. I had a lot of fun at the My Gym class tonight because I had a lot of energy. I wasn’t looking for a place to sit down or staring at the clock hoping the hour was up. We had guy coaches tonight after almost all girls the past month. The guys are a lot nicer and much more concerned with LMJ’s feelings. The girls aren’t as concerned with what she wants and are a little more insistent that she tries new things. It’s a cool balance. I also noticed who’s a good parent and who isn’t. There’s one woman who I think is a recently single mom, and her son seems to have worn her down. She just can’t keep up with him. He’s got a little bit of a reputation with some of the other parents. LMJ may have a reputation but it can only be that she’s shy. We’ve been there long enough that the gossip is starting to trickle – good times. That’s why it’s important that LMJ is clean and well behaved, and that I have enough energy to be a good dad. I don’t care what people think about me, personally, but I need to reflect well on the baby girl. All politics is local and My Gym class is about as local as we can get.