It is a foggy, rainy morning as we sail along the coast of southern France on board the Silver Whisper. Back home in Seattle, it\u2019s sometime in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n
I had all of two days off between finishing Proof of Life and leaving on the cruise.\u00a0 I am a writer, yes, but I am also a grandma, and both Saturday and Sunday were devoted to a: packing and b: grandkids.<\/p>\n
On Sunday our daughter came over from Silverdale with Audrey and Celeste.\u00a0 On Saturday, I attended our grandson\u2019s bowling tournament.\u00a0 Colt\u2019s father, our son-in-law, died after a nine year battle with malignant melanoma, so I consider it brilliant on my daughter\u2019s part to have found a sport, one that Colt loves and excels at, which does not require the use of sunscreen, namely bowling.<\/p>\n
In recent years, with the younger grandchildren, I\u2019ve been introduced to a whole new world in terms of sports.\u00a0 Audrey and Celeste are now in Junior high and both are very talented gymnasts. I\u2019ve found myself at any number of gymnastic meets, holding my breath while they perform seemingly impossible moves on the floor and on the bars.\u00a0 Those two girls may look as dainty as can be, but they are both proverbial iron fists in velvet gloves.\u00a0 A couple of years ago, at a county fair, some Marines challenged them to do pull-ups and were duly impressed by the results!<\/p>\n
At gymnastic meets, I\u2019ve been amazed at the way the various teams of girls move in orderly fashions from one event to another, and then patiently wait their turns to either perform and\/or practice.\u00a0 Parental units are mostly kept at a distance.\u00a0 The girls are with their coaches and their teammates, and that\u2019s it.\u00a0 As for the scores? When those come back, they are the result of each girl\u2019s individual effort.\u00a0 It turns out both girls are doing well enough to be included in state and national meets. \u00a0What grandma on the planet wouldn\u2019t be proud of that?<\/p>\n
In terms of individual effort, bowling is similar to gymnastics.\u00a0 At age 11, Colt\u2019s high score is a very respectable 255, but here\u2019s what I learned at last week\u2019s bowling tournament.<\/p>\n
There is a wall between the bowlers and everybody else.\u00a0 Only bowlers are allowed down on the approach.\u00a0 Parental units have to stay BEHIND the wall. Unlike the reality of kids\u2019 soccer or Little League or Pop Warner football games, there are no parents running up and down the sidelines yelling at their kids and offering unsolicited advice.\u00a0 The bowlers themselves can leave the approach and come ASK for advice from parents or coaches.\u00a0 That\u2019s fine, but down on the lanes, it\u2019s just the bowlers.<\/p>\n
And believe me, those bowlers are a mixed bag\u2014boys and girls of all different ages and ethnicities playing on the same lanes\u2014five or six kids per lane, all playing together; congratulating each other on good shots; encouraging each other over bad ones\u2014with no adult supervision anywhere in sight.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t see any signs of bad sportsmanship.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t see any sign of one kid heckling another.\u00a0 As for the parental and grand-parental units?\u00a0 There were several situations where new wives and ex-wives as well as new husbands and ex-husbands were there cheering on their shared offspring.\u00a0 And there were several instances where the parental units in question were of the grandparent variety.\u00a0 But they were all prepared to spend the day indoors, often with younger offspring in tow, to support their kids.<\/p>\n
No, Colt did not sweep to victory that day.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t do that well on the individual score\u2014placing 36th out of 85.\u00a0 But in the doubles tournament, he and his partner came in 4th.\u00a0 Even so, I came away with a distinct sense of euphoria\u2014a feeling that I had just witnessed something remarkable in this day and age\u2014a gathering of people where there were no divisions based on race or sex or political rancor.<\/p>\n
So the next time you find yourself stewing about what\u2019s wrong with America, go to a kids\u2019 bowling tournament and give yourself a chance to see what\u2019s RIGHT with America.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s there.<\/p>\n
STRIKE!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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