"At Spud's"



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of the things that hasn't changed over the past four years- J. mowing lawns to earn money to save and

spend.

As J. has gotten older, I thought that the cute, funny sayings, that needed to be put down in a journal, would slowly peeter out. And that, for the most part, he would say grown up things that are not notable.

Then he surprised me- while playing with a toy motorcycle he stopped and told me all about how a carburator works. It was so cute I had to ask him to repeat it because I just sat and watched his face and nodded the first time.

 

 

He has changed and stayed the same all at once.

 

As have I.

 

 It seems unreal that he has only been around for ten years.

I feel like I've always known him.

 

How is that anyway?

 

Does God  put your child in your heart the minute yours starts to beat?

 

 

 He still  has a handful of quot -ables every day that I forget to write down.

He still sees something he wants and has to
        
              UP
save 

                            his money to

buy it.

 What this has to do with Potatoes, will come soon.... Actually it doesn't have anything to do with what I am talking about except that he said something that I needed to blog. Or else.

One of the biggest changes has come in his sports venue. I know.

 

Shock.

 

Why do kids have to throw their parents for loops all the time?

Readers, I don't know if you will recall this throughout my posts, but J. was/is a sports fanatic. He was throwing things since day one. Which gave me and his dad some laughs. Naturally he gravitated toward basketball, football, baseball. I've bought baseball helmets, imitation football helmets. He bought a BMX helmet that he used to race a couple times and only recently used it after waiting four years for his dream to come true.

 And that was to ride a dirt bike.

 Wha?????

HOWEVER,

                                                 In the begining he loved: 

TIRES.

 

Like a wheel, he came back, full circl to doing what he has always loved.

 

And what we used to do together. When I was well. When I still had my ORANGE

Cruiser.

 

I will never forget the feeling of letting go of on the bike; of letting  J. go..... !

exhileration. amazement. awe. accomplishment.
It was as if I was trying my own invention. my own experiment
out for the first time
and

seeing
it

work!

Think Eddison.
Alexander Graham Bell
Einstein
so on and so forth!
 

 

J. had padded around on a bike with the shanks taken off and learned

 

BALANCE.

After going clear down town on a metal seated, red bike that seemed a foot tall,

he could not wait to ride a real one.

He did it the same day we took that ride and sat outside of Great Harvest Bread eating a big chunk

of their warm, wheat bread with the cinnamon crust and a thick layer of butter spread atop of it.

 

I was So. Tired.

I So wanted someone to help me parent at that moment.

Had Padre not come and picked us up, I would have

 

FAINTED 

 

 (Still not to the potato part of this post- hang on folks! I have to go into great detail about my suffering while indulging my child in action sports:

Hours were spent sitting in my a sweltering car, or in a patch of shade in the dead heat while J. rolled over cement,  made into concussion begging shapes, on his bike.

,

Unless you showed up really early in the a.m. , you were there with a group of teenagers and then somes, that rarely let a kid roll in.

J. finally the decision to not hang with that crowd:

 

 "They swear a lot mom. So that you can't hear. But I do. "

Well, I heard it and knew it was worse where he sat on his seat and waited for the other kids whose pants were at half mast to roll in and out of the bowls and was getting worried.

 It was looking like I had to load his bike, helmet, knee and elbow guards into the back of my van, Mary, for the last time.

Thank goodness.

 It was sad to see him miss out on a talent because the crowd that did that sport wasn't the best influence.

(He did get some great advice and learned new skills from some of those guys and I appreciate it.)

Football came. We lived, slept, ate, dated, football. And basketball.

 New parents listen up! And be warned! I had NO idea he'd decide to NOT play his favorite sport this year. When he told me for the hundreth time that he was NOT going to play,

 

 I was flabbergasted.

I mean I'd only thrown the ball to him a zillion times before he even became a "grader". There were so many times when I was on the verge of dehydration and passing out but still tossing a ball to a blond little boy.

 

 Over. And. Over.

 

Ten different colored,
different sized,
different degrees of inflation worth of footballs
lying around the house.

 

Some are most likely out in the knee high weeds in the garden.

Padre is really having a hard time with this one. The weeds. Not the football thing.

Can I just say:"Come again?"

And we are almost to the potato thing!

J: "I  am starting to like doing such and soot this year."

ME: hoobiddy wha?

ME AGAIN:I'm sorry, the ear infection I have had made it hard to understand what you just said, for a second I thought you said you weren't going to play football." 

J: "I am not going to play football this year. And it isn't because of blee blah blue. Or blah dee, dee."

(I asked him OvEr and oVer in random places, and times. Just. 2. make. sure.)

 

Because I didn't want him not playing because I started doing my hair differently or something.

Me ONCE MORE: Yes, but such and much sport is like my second child because of all the time, money, effort, time, and did I say Money, invested in it with you. What am I supposed to do? Put it up for adoption now because you like to mountain bike, hike, and ride dirt bikes??




ME: And remember all the plays you told me about
and how I had to buy all those mouth guards that you boil and were hot and you'd mess them up and I'd have to buy another one so we got it all right??

And how you begged for a helmet and wore that blamable, oversized Skyline helmet, even up to the table?

And how you asked me get you jerseys to wear over shoulder pads just to toss one of the footballs around?? 

And how I sat through sun, rain, cold, snow  and wind,watching you?

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

 (I am about to cry as I post this and wondering why it is taking so long get to the cute thing he says about potatoes.)

 

J: "I will  still be wearing  a helmet!"

 (said helmet- this one will be hard to say good-bye to as well. thank goodness it barely fits after

 

FOUR

years

 

of waiting to ride a 100.

 

I was under the impression he would just be running a 100 on a track....

 

 

If someone sees my boy will you notify me?

 

Try looking where there is concrete, dirt, elevation, and sky.

 

Oh, wait.

 

He's here!

 

Because there was a young boy who asked me some questions before he fell asleep that were just like my son's "Jadenisms"

 

And he isn't "breaking up" with football, he's just dating other sports.

So I don't have to send all the different balls in this house to D.I. (Deseret Industries is a thrift store opereated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

 

 

Okay,Reader, here comes the POTATO PART!

 

 

 

J: "Why are the Chinese so smart?" 

 

Me: "uhh, hmm. I think that they have "Tiger" moms. Which means they go to school all day, do homework while they eat and practice the piano in their sleep. They are really focused, a dedicated and proud  people in academics. Their parents are known for expecting excellence and I think they are just hard wired mathmatically"

 

J:" So how do I pick the right job and get the job?"

 

I must have really empasized the importance of work, skills, and apparently economics becaue this came outta left field:

 

 

ME: You just continue on sharpening your skills. Like on the mountain in Jackson Hole when you went on those steep, trails with the funky names, over and over; you got better. Same with jobs and learning. You build on what you know, you get better at it, and become really good at navigating through life.

 

J: "So what job do I look for and how do I GET it? Do they give it to me?"

 

ME: No, no. You apply- which is a fancy and formal way of asking them if you can show them all the skills that you have accrued over so many years of going to bed early and gettiing up early and working.

 

Already you have some stellar work history- collecting cans, mowing lawns. You can work on a farm as you get older; build some character. Work during spud harvest while in Jr. High and what not.

 

J: "What am I gonna do at "Spud's" again?" zzzzzzzz (soft snoring, and deep breathing.)

 

Me to sleeping boy- I have potato connections.