For our purposes today, VI = Vivian & MP = Me!
"So, do you wanna help me with Andrew's swim meet? I have to get the little boys lined up for their race." - VI
"Of course I'd love to help you." - MP
Since I'm not working this summer, I'm really doing my best to love others and to spend my time with those I love... young and old alike.
So even up until 2:00pm today Vivian wasn't quite sure what we were in for. All she knew is that we were responsible for lining up the boys ages 6 & under.
After spending an afternoon with little boys, I have come to conclusion that they are very much the same as 8th grade boys. One of the only differences between the two is that the 6 year olds don't say, "no homo" after hitting each other's butt or giving the other a hug.
Our first responsibility was to write the Event/Heat/Lane graph on each kid's arm... in sharpie. (The entire time I kept wondering how long it takes for that to wash off.) Vivian said this was the, "simple" part of our swim meet responsibilities. Apparently being written on in sharpie tickles, which really distorts the numbers. I failed to mention that before we could actually write on them we first had to catch them. 6 year olds are fast and small. An awful combination for those of us on the 'chasing' side. :)
After the tattooing was finished, the first relay heat took place. It was a blur. We lined them up, (I was pretty sure we were responsible for at least 15 boys), they took their places and swam.
When we got back to the 'tent' area, there were only 2 boys - 1 of whom was Vivian's son. Little boys are DIFFICULT to keep track of.
The next time we lined up for a heat, I asked Vivian how many boys we had total... I almost laughed when she said 7. (Really, because I'm pretty sure there were 15).
The rest of the time went smoothly and I really enjoyed getting to interact with the little ones... which is a phrase that never leaves my mouth. I do much better with teens than little ones, but this was the exception. They were fun, silly, and I had a blast helping them reach their junior Michael Phelps dreams.
No comments:
Post a Comment