Running Shoes

My last post (about losing a race) reminded me that when I was very young I had a few pairs of magic shoes.  Most of my shoes came from a cousin--I think he wore only wing-tips.  So when I got new shoes when I was little, they were almost always sneakers.  Somehow, those sneakers gave me the power to run super fast. I would go outside and let them work their magic. At times I almost felt like I was flying, like my little legs wouldn’t be able to keep up with the shoes. I loved that feeling!

During one of my mad dashes across the yard, something was headed the opposite direction. A huge bumble bee.  It nailed me right in the forehead. Thanks to my reckless speed at that moment and the bee’s speed, I ended up on my butt. My head stopped when the bee hit me, but my feet kept going (like in a cartoon)…so of course I ended up on the ground. I didn't get stung, but I did end up with a big, red welt on my head from the impact.

I really wish I could find that same brand of shoe today to see if they're still magical. The store where my parents shopped is long gone.  But the brand may still be available.  Please let me know if you see them anywhere.  The designer label stamped on the bottom read “irregular”.  Is that an Italian designer???  :D


PS - Hand-me-downs circulated around my extended family--mostly my mom's side. When my folks did buy clothes and shoes for us, they went to a store that sold factory rejects--items that had defects. They were always marked "irregular" somewhere.  Irregular shoes weren't bad, but having "irregular" sized clothes (that fit) could give a kid a complex.  lol 

Each day brings a new opportunity to succeed

With the right motivation, we can do almost anything. I've had some experience with this and would like to share a story.  It happened when I was playing soccer.

Every day before practice, the coach had us stretch and warm up. Then he made us run a mile. It was competitive and I'm happy to say I routinely finished second. The guy who always won was a long-distance runner on the school track team. He had won the county meet the year before and was only on the soccer team to keep in shape. I was happy.

Then one day in science class, I heard a girl (Harper) ask a fellow from my team why he lets me beat him. He explained everyone tried, but that "Rick wins." {No one considered the track fellow part of the race} Harper pointed out that "Rick comes in second" and started teasing me about losing. She was trying to get my goat.  It worked.  So I decided I would beat that guy.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you probably know what happened next. Every day I pushed harder and harder. Then, finally, it was our last day of practice. That would be my day! When it was time to run, the track man and I were both practically sprinting from the start, both determined to win. He pulled ahead. I pulled even, back and forth. He was ahead of me coming into the last 50 yards. I gave it everything I had and pulled even again.

Then he gave it everything he had and he beat me! Again!!! You thought I was going to win, didn't you???  Me too!  LOL, but not that time. (I did say with the right motivation we can do ALMOST anything.)  The scrawny long-distance runner beat me every day, fair and square.  :D

But it was a good lesson. That's how it goes sometimes. We can do our best, do everything right, and still not come out on top. But we keep trying because each day brings a new opportunity to succeed.


Remember that.  If you had a bad day, week or year, it's okay.  That can change tomorrow.

It Started in Homeroom - Part II

My experiment to be more out-going started in homeroom on the first day of 9th grade.  Fate (alphabetical seating) placed two nice girls at the science table behind me.  I talked with them.  It was surprisingly easy.  After homeroom I saw a girl who’d been in my English class the prior year.  I asked how her summer went.  After she did a double-take, we talked for a few minutes.  I talked with everyone I encountered (including teachers).  That’s how I ended up with the school misfit as my science class partner—no one else would talk to him (he was strange, but a nice guy). 

 

I tried out for the school soccer team. The coach was late the 2nd day, so I organized the other boys and led them through warm-ups. The coach saw that and made me team captain (I was not the best player).  I noticed kids (including Harper) sat in the bleachers to watch practice after school most days--enjoying the fall weather.

When I missed a month of school (December), a rumor started that I'd died.  People were shocked when I returned in January.  As a result of my new openness (and being the subject of a rumor) it seemed everyone at school knew me.

I joined the wrestling team and was made captain.  Oddly, people watched wrestling practice too--peeking through the windows.  Kids at my old school never showed such support for the teams.  That's when things started to get weird.  Or at least that's when the weirdness was pointed out to me.

 

During a break at a school dance (February), the kids all sat on the floor.  Not me--I kneeled (floors are dirty), so I was a little higher up.  As one of the chaperones walked by, she asked if I was someone special. I didn’t understand the question and asked what she meant.  She said every kid in the room was sitting facing me. I looked around and saw she was right.  I wasn’t in the middle of the room, but I seemed to be the center of it.  That was weird.  I asked my friend if kids were watching me.  She laughed.  She said I was popular and kids were always watching me--including at soccer and wrestling practice.  It was the weirdest thing I'd ever heard.  I was amused.  In spring I made the baseball team and, once again, people showed up to watch me practice.  I noticed that my friend was right, people were pretty much always watching me.

 

You know what? It was fun at first, but it started to annoy the hell out of me.  Most of those people didn’t even know me.  How could they like me?  They didn't.  But I was "popular" and that attracts phonies.  And when you have people liking you for no good reason, you end up with people not liking you for no good reason.  Kids got mad at me for being friends with other kids!  Three times I found myself surrounded by gangs of boys wanting to beat me up--some of whom I thought were friends.  A set of twins started telling people that I slept with them (I was 15!!!).  As a result of that lie, some female friends stopped talking to me.  I was shocked when I found out why.  There were other weird goings-on, but this post is too long.

Finally, the last day of school arrived.  When I got on the bus to go home, a group (led by my two homeroom friends) gathered on the sidewalk and started shouting goodbye to me.  As the bus drove off, they ran along-side, waving (some of them crying).  It was nuts.  As the bus made its way back to my neighborhood I thought, “Thank God that’s over. Those people are #$%^#$% crazy!”  I was so happy to be out of there. 

 
That experience helped me realize being popular doesn't mean much--and can be a bad thing.  You can't tell who your friends are.  People want to associate with you even if they don't like you.  And sometimes they don't like you for no reason.  I knew I was better off with a circle of true friends.  Being out-going is good, but it's good to know when to pull back too. 
The experience helped me realize that others being popular is also pretty meaningless.  My "school misfit" friend was a nice guy.  Why should I have cared what other people thought of him?  Or anything?  After my experiment I found I had no interest in the "in" crowd.  They were no better than anyone else.  I didn't care what they thought, wore, etc.

I learned to go my own way. 


There was a downside.  Everyone peaks at different times.  We usually feel bad for the poor souls who peak in high school.  But I peaked in junior high!!!  :D

It Started in Homeroom - Part I

Long, long ago in a place far, far away…I had what may have been my weirdest experience.  I've been saving the story, thinking I might make it my final blog post some day.  But you're not that lucky.  I'm not retiring yet.  I just decided it wasn't worth saving.  :)

When I was in the 8th grade, the local school board changed the boundary lines for the junior high schools.  The new boundary line went right by my parent's house.  All of my close friends were on the other side of the line—I was literally on the wrong side of the railroad tracks.  So in the middle of the 8th grade I headed off, essentially alone, to a different school in another part of the county. 

It turned out to be a wonderful gift.  First, none of the new teachers knew my 5 older siblings.  I had a clean slate--and got better grades, except in French*.   Second, it was a great experience being dropped into a different (and sometimes hostile) environment on my own.   And it gave me an opportunity to conduct an experiment.  I knew I would never see most of those classmates again (I'd be back at the local high school in 10th grade), so at the start of the next year (9th grade) I decided to be more outgoing and talk to more people…see what happened.  I’d been pretty reserved up to that point.  If I made a fool of myself with the new approach, so what???  

The experiment started in homeroom on the 1^st day of school. 

To be continued...

*  I'd been a B+ student in French at the old school, but the new one used a different book and the teacher spoke very differently--I couldn't understand a thing she said.  Also, my new French teacher had a mean streak and often belittled her students.  After a month in her class I was fed up with her behavior.  So when she said, "Mr. Ricademus, I'm getting gray hair waiting for your answer" I responded with a very cold, "I can see that, but I don't think you can blame it on me."  That was the 1st time I was less than respectful to a teacher.