Repost of "Friends"

I have been thinking about cleaning out the "friends" list on my FaceBook account. I have a lot of friends, and to be honest, I probably have more friends than I deserve. As I go through the list, though, I am not sure I am able to justify deleting people from my life. There are some people that I don't really know well, in fact, some I have never met. They may be friends of friends, who liked a post of mine, and requested my friendship. I thought about deleting some of them, but clearly, something drew us together, so for now, I'll keep it as is.

There are people that I disagree with politically, (very seriously, politically), but I didn't become friends with people because of politics, we connected for an entirely different reason. I'm not going to delete them. There are people that I disagree with socially. I don't approve of their lifestyle, and I wish they would get their act together and do what I think is right, but again, they are friends for an entirely different reason, so I'm not going to delete them.

Some people are filled with angst and enjoy spreading drama around the airwaves. Sometimes I find that annoying, but obviously there is a need for them to do that. It doesn't hurt me, and if it becomes too bothersome, that is what the scroll button is for.

I am bothered by some posts. Some people post many, many pictures of poor starving dogs and cats, and sometimes animals that have been cruelly abused. I have done my share of animal rescue. I despise people who abuse animals, and if I could adopt more dogs and cats who need a home, I would. I have taken to quickly scrolling through those posts, so as not to see things that literally give me nightmares. I am not always happy about seeing pictures of injured, ill, or abused children who need kidney transplants, prayers, or "likes" to help them get well. I will admit to a sense of skepticism when I read them, and I refuse to repost them. I feel the same way about missing children. It may or may not be true that if I repost such, they will be found, but I tend to believe not. I'm sorry. I'm cynical that way, even if I am admonished to do this "because if it was my child, I would want this reposted".

I will admit, though that I did remove two accounts. Why? These ladies are deceased, and I'm pretty sure they aren't going to be communicating through FaceBook. Just as an aside, when I am no longer earthly, would somebody please remind my husband to delete my account? He will have no idea what my password is, so please tell him to ask one of our daughters.  I'll meet up with you guys some other time and place, just not on FaceBook.

Repost of "Wrestling"

A repost from 2 and a half years ago:

So last weekend, we went to our first wrestling match ever.  No, make that our second.  About 10 years ago, we visited our oldest daughter and family in NJ, and Scott, our son-in-law was coaching a high school wrestling match.  We went to Red Bank Regional School, and watched Scott do an awesome job guiding his team to a victory.  However, this was the first one I have ever seen that had little people I love participating in it.

I wasn't sure I would like it, and I'm still not 100% convinced that I am a fan, but to be honest, it was kind of fun.  I am even less sure if I approve of females wrestling, but at these very young ages, I can't help but think that they might be learning skills that will serve them well as they grow up.

We enjoyed it.  Baylee's group, the 6 and under gang (she turned 6 a week ago) went first.  Two little ones would battle it out like baby wild animals, and after a few rounds, a winner would be declared.  Andrew's group, the 7 and 8 year olds would go next, and with possibly a teensy bit more decorum would do the same.  The 9 and 10 year old group, and the 11 and 12 year old group would follow, and as they got older, you could see that the skills were becoming more embedded.

I was surprised to see that even the littlest ones were beginning to understand the rules of form - they would raise their bodies from the mat, attempt to turn themselves in a way that would allow them to disengage from a hold, and straighten out their legs as they thought about what their next move should be.  You could actually see the wheels turning in those brains, as they tried to remember what their coaches had taught them. 

We were most impressed with the coach of Andrew and Baylee's team.  He gave them encouragement every step of the way, spoke kindly to them, pointed out nicely what they needed to work on, and hugged them.  Neither Andrew nor Baylee, nor any of the kids on their team, as far as I could see, cried when they lost a match, or bragged when they won a match.  Not so for some of the other teams, 2 in particular.  Almost every child on those two teams sobbed if they lost, and did a goofy dance if they took the match.  Poor sportsmanship from an early age will certainly lead to the kind of trouble and behavior that we don't need in this society.

Neither of them know whether or not they will continue in wrestling next year.  If they do, though, we will be there to support them.