When You Grow Up

Every adult asks the children they know the same thing: “what do you want to be when you grow up?”

Depending on the age of the kid, the answers usually vary from adorable to delusional. I’m almost 40 and I still don’t know! If a grown adult with actual agency and control over his life can’t be certain of where it’s going to lead – no matter how certain one may be of where s/he wants it to go – how can a young kid’s parents?

An Olympic-Sized Commitment

Yesterday morning, my wife and I were watching the Olympics, specifically the women’s cycling road race and some qualifiying events in gymnastics. (What can I say? it was a lazy Sunday morning and we don’t have cable.)

My son was mostly playing by himself while we watched, but when the gymnastics came on, he started to emulate the athletes on screen. He was bending down and stomping his feet and throwing his hands up and just generally being a very cute, very funny little guy.

And yet during his gold medal cuteness routine, all I could think was: please god don’t somehow end up being good at gymnastics.