Lions and Tigers, Oh My!

Okay, let me say this up front, don't let the title here fool you. This is not going to be a post about lions and tigers, per se. But rather, something a bit different but maybe are things that have us saying -before or after some of these encounters -"Lions and Tigers, Oh My!" (I'm pretty sure Dorothy has a few more words in that line from The Wizard of Oz but to my way of thinking today, what I'm using of her dialogue is all I need.)

Anyway, life really does have a funny way of introducing us to lots and lots of different things, doesn't it?

I've actually, if I want to be really, really honest about it, had a very full life. Maybe not a lot of it involved things I really wanted it to hold, but it's funny that way too how things crop up and you think, Sheesh, how the heck am I going to handle or manage or endure or okay, lots of times, even enjoy, this or that? But, when things do crop up that get thoughts like that rolling, for the overwhelming majority of us, I think we just muddle through and do the best we can with whatever we have to deal with on those occasions.

Some of the things that come into my mind now though, that I think about, that sometimes I worry about too, are things that probably would never ever have entered my mind when my kids were growing up. Some things just weren't available back then -and remember, those days are not part of the time element I refer to now as my "dark ages" -those years way, way, back when we barely had fire, much less the wheel -or so my kids probably believed for a goodly period of time about the years of my childhood.

But anyway, here I am now, almost 67 -well, I will be that age in about 3 more months ya know -but once again I'm dealing with things pertaining to kids' needs and not just the regular needs of food, clothing that is adequate and shelter either.

When my kids were in school, there weren't some of the activities available today around back then!

Just for openers, there definitely was no theatre group in the region that catered to plays for children from pre-school age up through high school! And not that I have a problem that there is such a group now and that my granddaughter is a member of this theatrical company too and going to be in her second play now at the end of this month. No, not at all, do I look at this as being problematic -even though some days it is a little hairy and hectic trying to remember what time she has to be in Philipsburg for play practice and to balance the timing of getting supper ready so she -and the rest of the family too -can have a meal that is maybe semi-balanced before she has to leave. And yes, there are also the occasional required fund raising activities too that come along with activities like this which, along with other organizations around the region now, often means we are eating hoagies a couple days a week purchased to support this or that or some other group. Sometimes, it's also pizza though or cookie dough. A myriad of things being sold, ya know.

But, nowadays, there's also a group that caters to young girls from our township and the neighboring township as well to teach little girls twirling and marching in cadence skills -little girls from about age 3 up through the early teens -and these kids then get to march in various local parades too, just like the high school kids in the school band do! Those kids also require another couple of hours on a specific afternoon/evening each week, plus really specific clothing needs guaranteed, of course, to put a fairly large dent into one's budget for children's clothing too.

And then, now when kids begin elementary school, there are also all kinds of athletic groups -teams -that the child can go out for and if they want to participate, there again comes the need for more specific clothing and also, equipment requirements as well!

We sort of started down this path a few years back when my daughter's oldest step-daughter was living here with us as she would always, at the beginning of the school year, express an avid interest in some sport or other and always, it seemed anything she thought she wanted to partake of involved really specific needs -such as special shoes or boots, for openers and also the perfunctory physical needed to have the doctor sign off that the child was physically fit for whatever sport it was.

AsI recall, one of those sports she showed a big interest in back then was soccer and the stuff that was mandatory for her to be involved in that sport, that I recall anyway, special shoes, special socks too, plus special attire to wear in the way of a quasi-uniform for practice and then too, for games -well wow, darned near made me think a small business loan was going to be on the agenda next.

Now, in all likelihood, we may be on the verge of reliving some of that stuff again as Maya will go into second grade this year and who knows what activities will be available to her at the ripe old age of 8 years, ya know.

I rather suspect though that like her older half-sister, Maya may get an idea that she'd like to play soccer. She's been learning a bit about that sport since she began having phys ed already in elementary classes -first grade and even a little bit in kindergarten too. And that's a good thing! Kids should be afforded the opportunity to learn, to play, sports like this and many others -something that definitely wasn't part of my early education, for sure! (We were lucky to know about baseball or softball and for the boys, yes, of course, football, but that was pretty much our exposure to sports then.)

Kind of in anticipation of the things to come though, I was looking at some information about soccer -since I do know it's a sport Maya seems to like to participate in now anyway -and some of the things that might be needed should she really get involved in it that would be over and above stuff her sister had needed. (Her sister dropped out of that sport about a week after Mandy had purchased the mandatory shoes and the special shorts and socks and she'd had the physical exam too -so we didn't know the full potential of things that probably would be needed had she continued. Things, for example, like soccer ankle braces, just for openers!

Wow! Looking at the price tags on some of those things and other stuff, I think Mandy had best set up a slush fund now and start putting regular contributions into it, designating it to be for any and all special athletic equipment and/or clothing Maya will need in the next couple of years!

Or, maybe, if we're lucky, she WON'T get that interested in partaking of team sports until she has grown to about her full potential and if she does need any of these athletic support type items then, once she is finished using them, she can always pass some of them on to old Grammy to use, cause heaven knows, I can take -and use -about anything made these days that would provide added support to my weak joints, ligaments and muscles!

Kill two birds with one stone that way is my thought on that deal!