The Power of Five: Nightlife Goes Where It Goes

Friday nights have been different since my sister had children. Interestingly- the high school her children will attend has a really good football team this year. They would not go to games yet. It would conflict with swim school.

This school is centrally located so I can visit the children. Besides the two I know, they bring a neighbor. They have so many children in their neighborhood. Contemporaries were few and far between when I was that age, at least in my neighborhood.

They meet up with a girl who is on the swim team. Many times there is running around and hide and seek. Since I am "Middle aged" and have been since the day their mother was born, I am asked to join in. I thought I would move up the ranks with a baby in the house. My father- never mind.

He took to saying "When you get to be MY age" when he was no more than forty-one. The adults of today are not offended if I make a suggestion. Take it under advisement. Most importantly, my sister's son plays with as many girls as he does with boys. Whomever is nice.

If I spoke to a girl in school, my father started teasing and said she and I would get married. His sense of humor and the lack thereof was a major reason I rebelled. It is nice seeing this group.

Somehow, when they are in the pool I can spot them and don't see other students. This is something I did not have and it is productive. I was offered many lateral moves growing up. There was a tumbling class.

If they taught us gymnastics, it might have been interesting. This class had children doing somersaults on a mat. Marginally interesting in the moment. Find better things to do. Calling it "Tumbling" made it sound more interesting than it actually was.

The kids of today have more extracurricular activities than high school students. At least they didn't play soccer this year. That was decent except the games took up most of Saturday.

Some started at eight in the morning. Why not play soccer at midnight? I did not attend a game before ten. It was fun watching them on the sidelines. The girls had more fun. It is interesting watching their trajectories.

My parents never seemed interested to watch me do things for the first time. Lucky for them, they had another baby. It was interesting watching her learn. This fed my desire to train new employees.

I shall travel the next few weeks and won't be watching them swim. It's productive. Their father was on the swim team. Some parents suggested I join the swim team.

While my experiences at The Knights of Columbus were never as good as they should have been, I always enjoyed the swim team named The Holy Mackerels. Better name than The Commanders.

I had a paper route so my job conflicted with swim practice. I was good at the backstroke and never got the proper breathing without arching your back. That takes time in the pool so I would not have won many or any swim meets. I have no idea if the children will join swim teams as they get older. If they want to- the option has been presented.

I also notice most of the employees have been at swim school the whole time I have watched. I don't necessarily talk to them. It is nice they are treated so well they stay on the job. Too bad my company is not as interested in employee retention.