I can't believe Fall is nearly here; I'm really fairly floored by that -- summer came and went so quickly.
I was pleased to renew some library books online -- I love that, the march of progress. Yet it's weird to see the library, now -- the books, largely unread, endless rows and floors, and one floor a corner of the floor, filled with computers with Internet hookups, packed with people. Like a hive. Books are old media. I love books, but it's so apparent how retro they are, more so in the library. At the rate our country's going, public libraries themselves may be gone in a generation -- combination of lack of funding and literacy, a toxic brew. I love books, but it did make me sad to see the unattended shelves full of books. Lost monuments. Ten years ago, there would have been a flurry of activity, but now, silent rows, a wealth of untouched ideas, lost worlds. Books are becoming a boutique industry.
I'm not melancholy at the moment; just reflective, thinking about things.
It's quiet tonight, and cooling off. The city seems quiet -- the battening down of the hatches, the passing of summer into our brief Autumn. Chicago's Fall is not a long one, compared with other places I've lived. The leaves all but leap off the trees.
B2 wants to be Bumblebee for Halloween -- the original TRANSFORMERS Bumblebee, which he loves. I think it's cute how much he loves that. B1 hasn't decided, yet.
B2 played soccer Saturday, in driving rain (they didn't cancel practice!) English coaches, great accents, loved that. B2 did a great job -- it's early, yet, and he's young, but his natural athleticism is remarkable: quick, strong, dextrous, competitive. I can already tell he's going to be one of those kids who'll be able to compete in anything he tries out for. He's a natural.
B1 never was -- not for T-ball, not for soccer. Oh, he gamely got out there and did it, but he's not a natural athlete by any means, and the intricacies of competition leave him sort of spinning his wheels a bit. I empathize with that -- I'll encourage him to be active in what he has a knack for, and what he enjoys. I don't have any conceptions of what he should be except happy and loved and accepted.
All the same, it's still remarkable that his baby brother is the natural, except in one area: rhythm. B1 has a natural sense of rhythm that pops up in unexpected moments. It's almost like because he doesn't have to think about it, he attains that measure of grace in movement that is lost to him in other activities. While B2 would be a natural musician in the sense of having dexterity and a diva-like sense of himself, I think B1 might have a knack at the deeper game, if I can encourage him to challenge himself and apply himself to things.
Failing that, martial arts and/or swimming would be good for B1 -- active, but not quite so team-based. Where his natural inclinations can come into play and he can excel in his own way.
Both boys are so smart, they crackle with intelligence. It makes me happy to see that, because they're going to need it in this world they'll eventually inherit.
