It’s vacation time, if we make it
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Jamie Patterson Managing EditorThe annual family vacation has arrived once again.
By the time this column hits the press, we will be with my husband’s family on the beach for a week of sun, sand, water and fun.
And I couldn’t be more excited.
James has grown enough to have a little more bravery when it comes to getting into the water. He is now ten feet tall and bulletproof. With his latest obsession with sharks and other sea life, I am sure he will be “on the prowl” in the waters of the Gulf this week.
Baby Elsie has also grown into a full diva since her visit to the beach last year. At only a few months old last year, she spent most of her time in my lap under an umbrella. She went up to the beach house for quite a few feedings and naps.
But now I have got a feeling that she is going to be running full speed over the sand. I expect sudden rushes toward the water. And sitting with Momma is gonna be the last thing on her mind.
I’ve got a feeling that I won’t get much reading done this year. I’m gonna be chasing babies around.
But the one thing that I am not excited about is the sense of urgency to get to the beach from my husband Jason. Refusing to let anyone else drive, he takes it pretty serious.
Like most men, he won’t take the time to print the map out.
“I’ve been going here my whole life,” he says. “I don’t need a map.”
Oddly enough, he will ask me hundreds of times what exits or routes the maps says to take. But he will never make visual contact with the map I have stashed away.
And when he does take the wrong exit, I will get blamed for it.
“I’m taking over with the directions,” he says. “You have failed in your duties as navigator.”
Jason also has problems with letting people take bathroom breaks. He has an obsession with “making good time.” I don’t know why because we can’t even get into the beach house until his mother arrives with the door key.
Jason promises James the world with candy, toys, juice, radio songs and so forth if he can wait to use the bathroom for another five exits.
But don’t let Jason see an Arby’s or Stuckey’s. He will run people off the interstate to get to the exit. One year, James’ car seat titled over in the back seat because of the sheer force Jason used to make the exit.
But I am very happy to have a getaway with my family. We enjoy watching the kids with their excitement. We are thankful for grandparents and aunts and uncles who allow us to have one date night while they entertain the kids. With the postcard worthy scenery, sitting on a back deck is heaven on earth with the waves in the distance.
And with Jason at the wheel and two excited kids in the backseat along the way, it will be one wild ride to get to it all.
Dear Editor,
I realize after this letter is published that my daughter will probably never have the opportunity of making the Dixie League All-Star team.
However after praying and pondering over this situation, and because she has never made the team in all of her five years of playing (which is a joke) I have nothing to lose.
I am normally a pretty passive person, but I guess the older I get the more I see and understand the cruel shenanigans that many of our kids are faced with. But mostly, the older I get the more I have learned to become more vocal in the things I feel are just not right.
The Dixie Youth Girls Team is one that I have held close to my heart because the one child that I have has been a part of this league since she was old enough to participate. Now at first I did not make a big issue out of the All Star Selection process because each year I was given a so-called excuse as to why my child did not make it.
Her first year and at age four, she was just this cute little girl scrambling around like the others with no clue as to what to do. As she got older and more serious, I realized that this is really becoming her passion and not tooting my own horn but she’s pretty darn good.
Now again I know that she may never make the team after the comment I am about to make, but who cares.
This league is one of the most biased leagues I have ever, ever encountered. Parents, many of our kids are being overlooked because the selection process is too political and a big joke. I do not think that I could sleep at night knowing that I (the coaches) put my child in a position that I know they do not deserve.
For years and in talking to other parents, coaches have been allowed to nominate their child(ren) and other coaches’ children, which is so unfair. Now I know that I am not the smartest person in the world, but I do know what ALL-STAR means. But for those of you who do not, it means “consisting of athletes chosen as the best at their positions from all ... consisting entirely of star performers.” To break it down further; the BEST players!!!
We as parents need to be more involved in ensuring that there are policies and procedures in place and that they are adhered to. We want the best children to represent our city not those children that you want to be recognized to feed your own egos.
Coaches should not be allowed to nominate their children or make deals behind closed doors. ALL-STAR selections should be based on statistics and privy to those children who have worked hard and diligently all summer. Some of you coaches should be ashamed of yourselves with your hidden agendas. I personally do not see how you sleep at night.
Zelda B. Baker
Concerned Parent
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