Ahhhh, spring.

So Spring has sprung in Iowa, and it’s a great time of year. The trees are starting to bud, the flowers are starting to come up, and all of the kids are out playing every night after school. The bikes are up and down the street, the ramps are in place for the jumps and inevitable injuries, and the neighborhood kids are starting the soccer, baseball and football games. Max had me take off his training wheels and was cruising up and down the street like a pro. It’s the fastest I have ever seen a kid ride after taking off the extra wheels. He still drives like a drunk old woman with cataracts, but has had no major crashes yet and every time he falls, he laughs. That’s a good start.

The sport of choice in my house is soccer. Makiah and Max are both playing on teams, so we try to practice games in the back yard. Last night, we were in the midst of one of those games, when the neighbor kid wound up and kicked the ball at me. I’ll say that I was a bit shocked to receive such a kick, right in the twins. I yelped like a spanked puppy, and the knees buckled, but I kept on my feet, kept the ball out of the goal, and most importantly, kept the tears from flowing. Next, I had to pull out my Oscar winning performance so the kid didn’t think he got me. I tried my best to convince him that the shot had actually been taken in the gut, but he knew. Another kid would yell, every time someone other than me got the ball, “Kick it into his nuts.” Yeah, funny, sorry your parents have to have a size 11 1/2 shoe removed from your ass. That kid never making it into my yard again would be fine by me. Nothing pleases a kid more than knowing he has caused you damage, especially in that area. Hilarious.

I had one of those moments today, that kind of puts things in perspective. There was a story on the radio about an accident that occurred in Altoona, the town my brother lives in, and a person was killed. My first thought when I hear that town mentioned, is hoping my family is safe. Turns out, the person killed was a family member of a girl I work with. This guy was driving along, probably heading to work, when a selfish 19 year old kid, in a stolen car, t-boned the car caring my friends brother-in-law, killing him. The kid got out of his stolen car and ran into the neighborhood near bye, which is my brothers area, and tried to steal another car. Luckily, he was caught, but that won't bring back my friends family. I haven't heard all of the details, but will that help? Will that make me say, "Oh, that's why he did that, OK, we'll let it slide." Nope, pretty sure my opinion will stay the same or, my guess is, I'll feel more disgusted with the people who do this sort of thing. It wasn't that long ago when a kid from MN drove to a small town in northern Iowa, and held up a convenience store. After he was handed the money by the clerk, he proceeded to shoot her in the head. He then drove to another small town a few miles away, and did it again. He was finally caught, before he could kill someone else, but that was a sad few hours in Iowa's history, that stretched into months of grieving. Iowa is a pretty safe state, so maybe people who live in big cities are use to this sort of behaviour, but we Iowans aren't. This kid was taken to jail, and as the cameras focused in on him in his cuffs and shackles, he was smiling. Not a smile as a forced smile for the camera, but more of a devious smirk. The kind that when you see it, you know that person has no remorse for what he did. Not only sad, but really scary to know people like this exist. That people have no regard for someone elses life, is a sad state of the union. Both of these situations just prove the old saying, "you never know." You never know when your time on this earth is up. You may be in perfect health, then some dumbass kid runs a red light, and then you are gone. You never know when some vital part of your body, might just quit working. I've lost a lot of people in my life, but never to an accident like these. Is that harder or easier than watching the person you love die of a disease? Not sure you can have a winner in that contest, so lets call it a draw. What does that all mean to me? Hmmmm, thanks for asking. It means that you have to live each day like its your last. I know, corny, cliche and waaaaay over used. But does that make it less true? You have to plan for the future, but you have to live today.