I recently had a conversation with my thirteen year-old son. He was talking about his desire to play professional basketball which has eclipsed his “childhood” dream of playing pro football. He kept showing me highlights of his favorite player and his shoes that “just dropped”.
I was trying my hardest to keep up with his enthusiasm but there were three problems glaring in my face: 1. This boy talks as fast as his eyes and fingers move when he’s gaming. 2. Even with my glasses, trying to watch this player do his impressive moves on the court was like trying to watch harvester ants from a helicopter! 3. I KNOW NOTHING NBA — especially that fashion is now a part of the game.
So, I sat quietly and inserted the appropriate ‘really’ and ‘okay’ when needed and tried to follow along until he got to the crux of his enthusiasm. He looked directly into my eyes with a passion that gave me goosebumps and said:
“MOM, I WANT TO BE LIKE HIM SO BAD!”
Before I knew, it I heard myself say, “Why?”
He looked at me like I was crazy. “Are you serious right now! Look at his shoes… they’re fire! And didn’t you see how he dunked on that guy? MOM! C’mon!”
And, still, all I could say was, “Why?”
“What do you meeeeean”, he whined- his voice going up a few octaves.
