Stories (Eli 15.1)
I received so many interesting e-mails about language that I'm going to put them up over several days next week, but it's going to take a bit of time to organize and sort.In the meantime, here are two stories from yesterday.
Everyone in Eli 15.1s school district is within 10 minutes (at most) of the school, and it's open campus for lunch (one hour), so lots of kids eat at each other's houses. We were on our way to practice when this conversation started.
"Hey, I'm having lunch at Sarah's house tomorrow," he said.
"Who's Sarah?"
"She's a junior," he said. "Really nice."
"Okay, sounds good," I said.
We drove along for a few minutes.
"So, about this lunch," I said. "Her mom or dad is going to be at home, right?"
He laughed.
"Of course!" he said. "What are you thinking?"
"I remember being fifteen," I said.
"Last century," he said.
"Fair point," I said. "I just didn't want you in a situation where you had to say 'Put that back in your shirt and where is your mother?' "
Eli started laughing so hard that he was shaking. This went on for a very long time. Finally, he came up for air.
"Somehow the way you said that--," he said, then started laughing again.
"It's my job," I said.
***
On the way home from practice, we started up again.
"I can't believe how much better I've gotten since we've moved up here," he said. "I can feel it."
"Hockey-rich environment," I said. "You were right about not wanting to go to Dallas because it was still Hockey Island. Hockey Mainland was a very, very smart decision."
"I don't know how it could have worked out any better," he said. "I love it here."
"So do I," I said. "We were very lucky, and you were very good. You're still in the pool, and it's getting smaller every year."
"It is," he said. "Especially this year."
"And what did you do this week on your one day off?" I asked. "You came in and did a hard workout with Chuck. If you hadn't done that, you would have wanted a private lesson with Joe."
"True," he said.
"There are still kids ahead of you out there, but you know what I'd say to all of them?"
"What?" he said.
"Objects in mirror are larger than they appear," I said.
He digested that for a few seconds, then his face lit up.
"Oh man, that's perfect!" he said.
<< Home