Not Confused About Somethings, But I Am About One Thing

Wow, it's been far too long since Little Jackie Showers regaled you all with anything. So here goes. Stay with me on this one, because it's a little odd.

Lately I've heard or read some stories about transgendered people. I'm no expert, but what I've come to understand that to mean is a person who feels they are one gender, but physically they are another. For example, a man who as always felt that he is a women (in the psychological sense I suppose). Not something I could relate to. Or so I thought.

It occurred to me today when I heard a comedian referring to the usual high school stereotypes such as the nerd, the academics, the class clowns and the jocks that maybe on some level I could relate. You see when I was in high school I didn't really fit neatly into any category, but if I was anything I was an academic. I was good at school. The thing is what I wanted to be good at and what I felt I was inside was an athlete. The only problem is my body was letting me down. I was transcategoried.

I've moved on because fortunately once you get out of high school there are leagues for those who aren't good enough to make teams in high school. In fact there are pretty low talent leagues out there where an academic can feel downright jockish. I once crushed a grand slam home run in a Baptist Church softball game. And there was another time when I hit a game winning home run in the staff vs student softball game when I was a student teacher at a middle school. I'm still a clumsy bookish fellow next to the real athletes, but put me in the right talent pool and I'm an Olympian.

I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere. And before anybody writes in to complain, I'm not saying all Baptists are poor softball players, just that this particular game wasn't exactly being played at a high level. Now, the Lutherans on the other hand, have no game whatsoever.

Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio?

I turned 46 recently. Yes, that's annoying but I'll get over it. I did get to thinking though that there are little things in life that I miss from my past. And I'm not someone who believes that the past was the good old days. Have you seen how clear instant replay is today? Wow!

I miss our weekly pick-up flag football games. I don't miss the three days it took to recover, which is essentially why I stopped playing, but I sure do miss the strategy and camaraderie of the contests. As you know by now if you're a regular reader, I miss tube socks. However I am confident the tube sock will be back unlike my football career.

I miss Johnny Carson. I miss Howard Cosell. I miss Howie Meeker. I miss Wheaties. I miss Match Game and Battle of the Network Stars.



I miss when my feet didn't hurt in the morning. I miss being able to eat Haagen-Daaz without needing to follow it up with an hour in the bathroom. I miss being able to run without having to be careful not to pull a muscle.

I miss when children's sports each had their own season and kids could play several sports a year. I miss cream filled long johns although I'm sure there is a bakery somewhere that has them. I miss the sound of World War Three on Halloween. I miss the Pop Shoppe.

I miss when safety didn't come first. I miss expecting to wait for a ferry. I miss when it wasn't the government's fault. I miss when you only had to brush and not floss. And I miss when the Olympics were a good thing and being a homer was not.