Stay on your TOES Christopher!!!

Okay, so as I sit here in Iraq waiting for the coin toss to decide what mission we go on next and to where it will be. I have an opportunity to remember some golden moments in my life. The list is really long, so I am not going to bother with it. But there is one thing in particular I am going to talk about. The old saying "Stay On Your Toes!" now growing up, regardless how poor my family was my mom always saw to it that her kids played in organized sports of some sort. It began when I was probably 4yrs old. For those of you who don't know, my older brother Robert is 19 months older than me (which means he hit 30 first), and for as long as I can remember I was always jealous when my mom or dad took my older brother to baseball practice or soccer practice. In fact I think I had fits about the whole thing. To this day I remember my mom telling me when you get older you can go and play baseball and soccer too. Man those 19 months sure did seem like an eternity. Sooner than later I got my shot, and boy was it great. I finally started to feel like a big boy. I was maybe 4 and a half years old and I finally got my chance to play big boy sports like soccer. To me at the time it made me feel twice as good as Michael Jordan did when he got drafted to the NBA. So the season starts out with soccer practice twice a week. We would do our warm ups and then watch our couch kick the ball while all 15 of us kids would race to retrieve it for him. But after awhile it payed off. After about the first two weeks of soccer practice we finally had our first game. Now watching a bunch of 4 yr old's who really don't understand the game play soccer, well it is quit hilarious. Picture 10 midgets all going for the soccer ball at the same time. It didn't really help as you could here in the back ground every screaming soccer mom yelling at the top of there lungs kick the ball or go get the ball. So as us kids are trained at a very young age do what mommy says. I am sure you can just imagine the chaos that ensued.

Back to what I was getting at. So I was always graced with the opportunity to play sports. In fact, I looked so forward to playing sports that I broke the year into three season's. You had baseball season. Which was fun. You got to run around the base's while other kids tried to catch you. Slide into the plates. I think it got to the point that regardless of how well you did or didn't hit the ball or how far you made it to the next base before getting out, if you didn't slide into base you just weren't that good at baseball. So of course I had many scraped up knees and elbows through this season.

Then there was soccer season. By far my favorite. For soccer season meant that for the first half of the season it would still be hot. The down fall to the first half of the season was the grass was really hard and dry. But then there was the second half, which every kid loved and every mother dread. That is right RAIN. and when it came down it would come down. Which meant that hard dry soccer field turned into the worlds biggest mud puddle. Where all of the rules of the sport went right out of the window. Another one of those things that the muddier you were the better the player you were. Needless to say I was always ranked in the top 2 of my team.

Then there was everyone's favorite season. Christmas, which really meant no school for two weeks and Santa Claus. Where we would drive to the mountains in the back of my grandpa's truck and go cut down our own christmas tree. Yes, that is right we would cut our own tree down to enhance that Christmas feel and the smell of the pine needle's. Now let me get back to the sport thing

So as I played sports through out my child hood. My mom was always there on the sidelines. She was more of my own DR. than anything else. From the countless bloody nose's I would get to the broken arm I received to the sprainded ankles I had to endure. She was always there. Always encouraging me to do my best. She also taught me to never quit. I honestly don't remember a whole lot of what kind of encouraging things she would say to me, but there is this one thing that she always said. Stay on your Toes, Christopher! all's I could think was what are you talking about I am on my toes. So I would try to stand up taller on my toes, make it as obvious as I could to her that hey mom I am on my toes, quit yelling at me! But, for some weird reason it never worked. She would just yell it again and again. It got to the point that I was afraid my toes had been moved to another part of my body and noone every told me about this. For crying out loud someone help me get on my toes. Stay on your toes, Christopher. Not until years later (like at the age of 16 or so) did I ever realize what she was trying to say was Christopher be ready the ball can come to you at any minute, not get on your toes. As I write this I am cracking up. By far this is gotta be the funniest proof of how I have a tendacy to take people a little to serious.

So Aiden and Jack, as you grow up in life take a second to stop and think what people are trying to tell you. Jack it is ok, I of all people know how you feel. The second child syndrome. Regardless of what parents realize, it is there. I to went through it. Aiden just try to remember that one day Jack is going to want to play to, so always try to teach him and include him in everythin you do. Jennifer, relaxe they are boys. The worst part is they are specimens of me, which means they are going to get hurt, bloody nose's, broken arms, and a case of invinsibility like no other. Don't panic. They will recover. Although I will admit that I am probablly worse at that then you honey. I love you guys. I hope you guys got as much of a kick out of this as I did while writing it. See everyone soon.