Last night I was standing out in the cold with four young biathletes trying to get some equipment brought over from offsite storage so they could see with their own eyes that it arrived. I heard myself saying to one of the girls not to worry and that I had everything under control.
The fact of the matter is that I actually wasn't totally sure I did, in fact, have it all under control and I wasn't sure I could fix the issue they were having. But there is a look that a kid under 18 will give you are the grown up and they are the kid that says, "I totally trust you," that last night scared the crap out of me. Trust me? I want to solve this, I hope I can solve this but kid, I don't KNOW if I can solve this. And just for a second I felt 100% certain that being a parent must be the bravest thing on earth.
These kids are great, their energy is a lot of fun. The enormous weight of responsibility to make sure they are safe and out of trouble thousands of miles from their parents is not something I am used to at an event. It's not something I am used to in my life.
I'm still sorting out exactly how that makes me feel.
2 comments:
Don't ever say you have everything under control. Instead, say "everything will be all right" -- because it almost always is, even if you are making it up as you go along.
The great thing about being a parent, at least in the traditional sense (foster- and adoptive- notwithstanding) is that you get a couple of years providing for a child's every need before the child is old enough to decide whether you're doing a good job or not. Then, when they're 5 or 6 or 7 or 12 years old and you really do need to "have it under control" they have all those years of experience to fall back on, and so do you. It's a pretty cool system, actually.
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