6614/19534
It's obviously hard to get the kids out of the house as there is hardly anywhere to go and it's pretty cold out there. But I got them up to the rec for 45 minutes this afternoon. My son who had insisted he didn't need his coat soon changed his mind and even becoated still wanted to go home. But we played chase and then had a brief game of football.
There are some basically full sized training goals up and it's fun to put a 3 year old in goal and have a good shot at all the space around him (though I can't trust my ability to direct the ball and kick it really hard, lest I inadvertently twat one of the kids in the face). I was facing up against my daughter and thought I'd risk going for it a little bit. The ground was frosty, but the top layer had melted so we were on slightly slippy mud. I was wearing trainers without too much grip and as I tried to semi-blast the ball into the top corner of the net I slipped and ended up landing on my back. The ball failed to get off the ground, but did find the net, but I was somewhat humiliated by my fall into the dirt. I laughed and so did the kids who came and jumped on my crumpled form. It was funny and fun and I was able to laugh at my own hubris as well as having come unstuck trying to defeat a five year old.
But the upsetting thing was how much it had hurt. It was a basically static kick and I had landed on ground that was hard, but muddy and this relatively minor fall had jolted all my bones. I was fine, but it was just another reminder of how much older my body is than my mind. I am still young enough that I can walk away from a slip like this and for it to be amusing. But racing ever closer to the point where something like this is not going to produce laughter but concern and where the jolts turn into snaps.
Yet still my brain does not even consider the foolhardiness of throwing myself into stuff like this. Imagine breaking your back trying to show the world that you can kick a ball into an adult sized goal against a person who is 47 years younger than you.
Actually, no, it's still pretty funny.
