On Top of the World

Tonight my work training schedule took my team to a team building camp. The bonding exercises the camp directors make us do are rather cheesy, but somewhat relevant. Outdoor time together=team building, no matter the agenda. We had the Sherpa walk, the low ropes course, the sequential tarp game, the zoom puzzle, etc. I like all of the silly exercises--all except for the dreaded human puzzle they like to call "traffic jam." I hate that one.

This year the camp directors threw in a special new obstacle: the world ball. It's a giant ball, probably 8 feet tall, and your objective is to kneel on top of it and roll it across a field toward a goal. Your team mates get to be your spotters and every member of the team takes their turn trying to maneuver the globe to the goal line.

I was so excited for my turn. I felt like I was on the TV show "Wipe out," thought there was no wall of punching fists throwing jabs at my chin. I climbed aboard the big bouncy ball, and to my surprise, I was really good at it. Maybe even the best in the group. I was so proud of myself. Sometimes it's hard for me not to feel old while I'm at training: old and odd--especially when the eighteen year old first year RAs ask me if I'm an AREC (a supervisor), but I'm not. My response is usually something like, "Nope, but I'm old enough to be one." Because, I am. Admitting it usually makes me feel a little silly, but not this afternoon. As I boarded the big bouncy world ball and successfully crawled it over 20 feet without falling off, I felt pretty good about myself--maybe even proud that this 'ol mama still has a few sweet tricks up here sleeve.

Aging

Yesterday Allerina came to spend the night at our home. I love that little girl. But she really isn’t so little any more. And, every time I get to have her over, I start feeling older.

She was wearing a jacket that said ’15 on the sleeve. It took me a moment to realize that those numbers stood for the year she is going to graduate. Then it took me a long time to admit that ’15 is 13 years after ’02.

She said she wanted to watch a scary movie because she’s “so into them lately.” So, I pulled out an old “What Lies Beneath” VHS I got from the DI. She had never even heard of the thriller that made the husband sleep in his parents’ room when he was a teenager. Thankfully she did know what a VHS tape was.

While here she watched me fumble in circular frustration after misplacing my phone, my key card and my keys. I’m glad it didn’t all happen at once, and that they were all soon recovered, but the recurrent episodes of forgetfulness are beginning to scare me. Plus, I sound so much like my mom whenever I get flustered (not that that means that I’m old).

Finally, I couldn’t get enough of her “teenage drama queen” mode. It’s rather easy to access. All you have to do is say something slightly inflammatory about boys, or friends or PMS and her beautiful brown eyes start rolling. If you want her to become especially peeved, tease her about being boring.

My diva of a little sister is anything but boring; however this seems to be her worst fear. I was giving her a hard time about how she and her friend threw the fish (I gave her for her birthday) off of the deck after taking turns with the poor little thing flopping around in their mouths. And this is what she said, “Ok, maybe that was sorta stupid, but at least I wasn’t sitting around alone playing board games.” Instant laughter jumped right out of my mouth, and I hugged her. “You’re such a good girl,” I said. “In your mind, the worst possible thing you could be doing is not drinking, or drugs, or even noncommittal make out sessions with stupid adolescent boys. It’s playing board games.”

…Which brings me back to confess that I am getting old, and probably quite boring, because I would love to just sit around some night with the husband playing board games. But at least my cool little teenage sister still wants to hang out with me. Maybe I’m not that old and boring after all.