Skateboarding is Beckett’s new passion this summer.
When I was growing up, skateboarding for me was a mode of transportation. For instance, I would skate constantly from our house on 7th Street and Edgewater Avenue to the basketball courts on 3rd Street or to work at the Santa Maria Motel. I wasn’t good enough for tricks or anything beyond going from one place to another.
On the other hand, for Beckett, he’s not much for skating any sort of distance. It’s about learning and perfecting tricks and skating on ramps and bowls. With a rare no camp day last Friday, I took him to the Ocean Pines skate park that afternoon.
I learned a few things that day, including that he has improved a lot in a short amount of time, older kids have no problem cursing around young children and that I should be prepared for a workout next time.
Although some let their foul mouth run a little too frequently, most in the group of 10 older high school kids were quite nice to Beckett, who has a long way to go as far as skate park etiquette. The same can be said in the surf lineup as well. That will all come in time.
As usual, when it came time to leave, it was difficult to get Beckett, 8, out of the skate park. He was having too much fun. He did eventually come over to me after I shot him the look. As much as I might like to believe I have that much mind control over him, he later told me he came over so quickly because the kids were vaping (at least that’s what I hope they were doing). He apparently didn’t want to inhale the smoke. Later, when I asked him how old the kids were, he said a few of them were going to be high school seniors and some had graduated already.
He then proceeded to let me know how a few of them didn’t think college was important and that school wasn’t really for them. Before I could say anything, he stood up for his new friends, saying something along the lines of, “they were just kidding, I’m sure, but I did learn some new words.”
Fortunately, he went from there to Vacation Bible School. That was a nicely balanced afternoon.
There was an interesting game of two-on-two basketball at Henry Park in Berlin Wednesday.
As a full-court competitive game was taking place nearby, I joined Beckett and his two cousins in a game that was more funny than serious. In my case, it was yet another reminder that agility and skill rapidly erode with age.
For his part, Beckett quickly realized how much harder it is to play on regulation hoops rather than his backyard seven-footer.
Although there were some anxious moments for him, as he struggled with not being able to easily score as he does at home, he, as is usually the case, brought some laughs to the court as well.
In the neighboring game where 20 guys were taking turns in their five-on-five games, it was shirts versus skins. Beckett seemed to like that concept. It wasn’t long before his shirt was off. Soon after off came his shoes, for some reason.
He is 8 years old, after all.
While on the bayside of Assateague Island last weekend, Carson, 7, and I had a good laugh over some tourists.
As we were sitting in the water, we were listening to nearby conversations. It was funny to overhear all the mistakes vacationers were making about their surroundings. One statement that stood out involved the horse flies, which were bad that particular day because there was no wind whatsoever.
A little girl in a group next to us was getting bitten and having a tough time consequently. She turned to her mom and asked what they were. The mother spoke in a confident fashion, making it seem like she knew what she was talking about. The reality was she didn’t but sometimes it’s just the tone of confidence that matters.
She said the flies follow around the horses and eat bugs off them. The daughter responded that no horses around right now and asked how that could be true. Seeing the wife needed a little help with her inquisitive little one, the dad pointed out a couple horses drinking out of a nearby water faucet.
As they walked over to check out the horses, I wondered if Carson was catching on. As a couple flies landed atop one of the horses, the mom pointed them out to the daughter and reiterated what she had said early about the reason for their existence here. She said they are helping the horse by eating the bugs. Of course, they were more likely biting the horse.
Carson immediately started laughing and turned to me and signed “crazy” (pointer finger extended to his ear twirling in a clockwise fashion).
As we were walking back to our area, there was a family grilling an enormous amount of meat. While a guy tended to the meat, there were two others standing around the grill chasing off sea gulls hovering to snag some lunch.
Carson pointed it out to me and signed the same thing. Even the guys warding off the gulls had a good laugh at that as well as themselves.
