My Random Keys

One of my favorite photos is one of me holding Mancub1 on my chest on the back deck of the house. It was after work and I came home to relieve his mom after a full day of great mom care. I was tired and rocked M1 until we both fell asleep. His mom took a picture of two tired boys, the smallest of which fit squarely in the middle of my chest.

Another favorite memory of mine is of the wrestling matches between me and my dad long ago. He almost always won. (The exception was the day I learned that a backward bending pinkie finger helps bring the match to a quick "UNCLE!") I love thinking about how much effort it took to even come close to beating my dad.

Put those two memories together and you get this evening's full-on melee with foam swords. Mancub2 was scoring us while we swung foam with lethal inaccuracies and the occasional firmly felt contact. We each have our own fighting style. Since I am writing this, I'll describe mine as a cross between Bruce Lee, Aramis the Musketeer and Andre The Giant.  Mancub2 fights valiantly calling on the skills of various fighters from video games. It is great fun.

But it turns serious towards the end when swords give way to close hand to hand combat and wrestling. Tonight, the expected shift came with a surprise. My little guy who used to lay on my chest nearly pulled out a victory. He grew up. His strength and body length makes winning easily a thing of the past for me.

I know he will look back on our wrestling matches with affection for the sweaty, floor-pounding matches. We had some great laughter and have new stories to tell.  I also do not fear for his safety in high school now.