"I thought you were cool"

I came home the other night from my Godmothers house. Becket was attending an overnighter followed by b-day skate party at a neighboring skate park. Upon hearing that her house was sought after for a "bowl" (large concrete pool type skating structure) I thought about the idea for my house. I quickly went to Herman and asked him, "Would you let Thomas and Carmen put a bowl in our back yard?" He didn't have to think about it. He replied with an adamant "NO". We volleyed back and forth with reasons why and those reasons being shot down. I finally knew I was beat and I ended with a, "and I thought you were cool" to which he responded with a "no, no I'm not". I will not give up the dream.....stay tuned

Chasing Butterflies

Andrew (3) has been spending a lot of time in his sandbox lately. The box is located in a grassed in area flanked with a garden of coreopsis, pumpkins and sunflowers of all sizes. As I was watching him from a distance he decided to chase something. He started running all around the yard yelling, "chasing bubberpies". Flying away as fast as he was running was a small yellow butterfly. I wasn't too worried about the butterfly. Once the butterfly decided to double back towards him, he ran the opposite way yelling. Then it was the butterfly chasing him. Back and forth this went on for several minutes. Life should always be about chasing butterflies. Don't you agree?

Monday Monday.....

Things I saw this morning, on Labor Day. At 5am I saw Papa Herman at the front door having come home early from St. Herman's. On my way to work on our school building project I saw a turkey strutting along the side of the road. It looked so funny I slowed down to gawk at it. He didn't seem to appreciate the attention he drew. I next saw a llama taking a siesta in a field, at least I think it was a siesta. I also saw many older folks walking with their dogs and a women decked out in pads, helmet and in-line skates cruising along a path. I saw my husband's smile and laugh. I saw Becket doing a silly little dance that always cracks me up. I saw Andrew bringing candy after candy thinking he was able to consume as much as he wanted to. I also saw Tansy tormenting her brothers, then being sweet to them. Now we are heading to the skate park where I may see Becket drop the 6' ramp, or so he hopes. I'm sure I'll see Andrew and Tansy chasing each other around and maybe I'll see Herman get on his long board. All in all I see that today is shaping up quite nicely and will be a beautiful Monday morning.

Everyone loves a parade

Today was our annual Frontier Days parade. My Godmother and I were asked to hold the banner for the skate park association while others joined us with their skateboards. Mary used Herman's Sector 9 long board and I sported my old school board. Anthony (who is a middle school teacher) and his son Sebastian showed up as did Carmen the stone cutter and artist. Among teens we had a young man named Josh that doesn't like to anything more then skate he says and Chris who face is planted on t-shirts everywhere encouraging support for our local skate park. Among younger skaters we had a full gamut ranging from Gus who is 7, his brother Owen 11 both who belong to Mary. Becket was there as well as several other boys of various ages. As we were waiting to start the parade the boys were all skating around, including up and down a ramp of a local business. Another parade participant came over to ask who was in charge of the skaters and complained about them skating the ramp without helmets, but when they put on helmets she decided they can't skate there at all. Another parade participant loudly voiced her disgust with our skaters standing on the sidewalk and exclaimed a "Thank Goodness" when they weren't going to be going directly behind us. Needless to say this put Mary and myself in a very defensive mood. These people don't know who they are dealing with, not only are we skaters but we are MOMS too. And you don't mess with the mama's. At 43 I felt like a juvenile delinquent having to justify my existence and right to be where I was. We armed the kids with flyer's and candy to pass out while we two moms took the banner in hand and lead the procession of skaters. We followed the boy scouts and proceeded a big group of cloggers. If you were lined up along the parade route I'm sure you heard me shouting to the skaters to watch the horse "poop" as they were several entries in front of us. It was a very fun experience. Mary and I walked/skated, smiled and did the princess wave. The kids skated and worked the crowds with their flyer's and candy. And Carmen and Anthony expertly entertained both on the sidewalk and in the street. I'm not sure if we did anything to change the image of skating but I think it was good to have us moms and a couple of dads out there. I think what I enjoyed the most was spending time with these skater kids. I got to see them outside of the skate park and without the attitude. I saw them as kids that were just having fun and talking to me like I wasn't some alien from another world. They all had to take turns trying out my board and telling me their skate stories. Even the karate kid two entries ahead had to tell me about his board and his love of skating. He did mention he's getting board with karate and wants to skate more. I somehow think his folks won't entertain that idea though. At one point during the parade I spotted my mom, Tansy and Andrew (who just had to bring his skateboard to sit on while watching). That was fun seeing my family and many friends along the route. I can't wait till we do it again next year. Despite the negative attitudes brought on by the other participants it was a very enjoyable time for all. I hope our presence there will be an encouragement to other families and parents to get out on boards and skate with their kids or at least support them. So next time you see a skater, smile at them and encourage them, remember we're not all thugs.