Winners and Losers

Did you ever feel like a loser when you were younger, growing up? I did. I always had hand me down clothes, that's what they were called back then. I never got to wear the latest fashion or the cutest styles. Mainly worn out used and faded hand me downs. If I ever did get a new item, it was because it was in the bargain bin at the dime store(remember Ben Franklins and T, G & Y's-yeah I know that really dates me, I digress).

I distinctly remember to this day the desire that consumed me in 4th grade. NO it's not what you're thinking! shame, shame! I wanted a pair of Go-Go boots just like Mary Jo had. She got everything brand spankin new!! I was always jealous of what she wore, the friends she had, everything in her represented in me what I didn't have. As a 10 year old, you haven't discerned yet that God doesn't want you to be jealous of anything or anyone. So I dreamed of having a pair of Go-Go boots. I imagined what I would look like in them, what they would feel like, the sound they would make walking down the hall way at school, the smell of the leather when I opened the box for the first time. I thought about them day and night. Consumed and jealous. My parents in their poverty couldn't afford them and I didn't have a clue that I would not get them. I asked for them on my birthday and got clothes instead. I asked for them at Christmas, believing with all my heart they would be the only thing under the tree since that's all I asked for. Again clothes, no boots. My desire for them was fading as quickly as Mary Jo's boots were wearing out. Spring, then summer came. No boots.

Finally having give up all hope of ever possessing the most stylish white boots ever, I let myself think I was never to own them. Besides, all most none of the other girls my age were wearing their's anymore since the fad had passed and it was summer after all. School was about to start and if I was lucky I would get not one but TWO new outfits to wear and if I was on the top side of extreme luck, one of my new outfits would be sent all the way from the fashionable east coast via my Aunt. About a week before school started, my Mother(God rest her soul) brought to me in our living room a brown paper sack. As I anxiously opened it to see what was inside, I was so surprised to find......you're already ahead of the game here......Go-Go Boots! Yes! but then it hit me. They were not in a box. The did not have the new smell of leather. They were not shiny brand spankin new. The heels were scuffed. They had crinkled on the side. But.....I had a pair of boots!

Fast forward to the first day of school. I was all decked out in my new duds and my so very used Go-Go boots. I went off to school proudly wearing them on my feet(after they had a coat of shoe polish) and thinking I had now joined the "club". I would be one of them. I would be "in". It didn't happen. I was not "in". I was BIG TIME "OUT". I was laughed at all day long and made fun of until I thought I would die from embarrassment. I couldn't wait for the bell to ring and run home(we walked all the way to/from back then) and get them off my feet, tears stinging my eyes all the way home.

I never knew who's hand me down boots they were. But I had a pretty good guess. My parents were friends with Mary Jo's parents. Life's not fair when you're 10. Especially when all you wanted was just a pair of NEW Go-GO boots.

As a side...Stephanie's YMCA team, coached by a wonderful Mom with a penchant for white boots, WON her game this weekend 18-4! WOO HOO TEAM DYNAMITE!!! I have awesome girls that all play well together and want to learn. We've had so much fun this season. So much so, I am going to ask to Coach a team next year too.

Uh, Ethan's travelling team lost all 3 of his tournament games. They stunk! They are all 8th graders and they were tromped by a team of 7th graders! There is heavy duty talent on his team, but lack of desire to win and play intensely from start to finish has kept them in the losers division.

Tonight, I'll end my post by asking you, which would you rather be? A winner or a loser?