Ian attended his first track meet today which was in Kremmling, which is about 20 miles west of here. Kremmling is past Byers Canyon, and even though it's in the same county as Granby, which is this side of Byers Canyon, it may as well be in another world, a better world. It has good schools (they just received the Governor's Award for Excellence) they have a feed store and they're closer to Target. Plus, I like the principal of this school; I'd never argue with him during a district board meeting or walk down another aisle in the grocery store if he was in it. In fact, I work closely with him with our GED program; he's smart, passionate about education and makes fun of the fact that I can never figure out my cell phone; I'd work for him in a minute.
So that's where Mike and I spent most of Saturday-sitting on hard metal bleachers cheering Ian and all the rest of the middle-schoolers, through the wind, cold and sometimes hail. As I mentioned, it's spring in the Rockies which means 60 degrees one day (swimsuit weather for us) and seven inches of snow the next.
The Rocky Mountain Bluebirds have returned, which means Spring really, really is here, it just may not look like it.
Ian was in the 4x400, which is a relay race. Mike and I attended the Track Events in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. The middle schoolers, well, let's just say they don't quite pass the baton like Carl Lewis and his teammates did. In fact, the runner (and I use that term loosely) right before Ian, kept switching baton hands and pulling up his shorts, which is how Ian's team came in last.
The kids, boys and girls, spend a lot of time looking around while they're running and adjusting their clothes. One girl, who was already last, stopped and pulled her bra strap back up, which even made her more last...if there is such a thing. One young boy, again last, waved to his parents when he ran (again, I'm using this term loosely) by the bleachers.
Ian also went in the 400 meter relay, which is one very long lap around. Ian was almost not last, he missed this by about one second, but he was really excited about being almost not last. The good thing about Ian is he always keeps going. He's into the social part of teams; he's always in the middle of girls and they're playing with his hair or giving him part of his lunch. He's always in the middle of the boys pushing and shoving and grappling and mauling like boys do when there's more than one of them. He likes to ride home on the bus and he always loves practice.
I hope he keeps this same attitude when he goes to a public school next year. He's not tired of school with homeschooling and he's ready to socialize. But Ian is also a lot like me. I like people, really, but not a whole bunch of them in my house and not for a long time and especially not if they're boring and maybe not very smart or they don't read except for the Bible and Christian Literature; do you know how hard it is to get a rise out of someone who only reads stuff with a moral? It's hard, trust me, I try all the time, I mean, I do live in Granby, "Headquarters of the Midwest if You Don't Live in the Midwest."
Ian didn't win any medals but he had a good time and he couldn't wait to get home (on the bus), shower and head to his friend's house and ski tomorrow.
Ah...life in The Rockies.
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