Beat Kids!

OK, the title of the post this evening comes from this weirdo TV show called "Wonder Showzen" and they have this sketch where kids are on-the-street reporters. They call it "Beat Kids!" It's a horrific title, obviously, but it's pretty damn funny.

That aside, I love kids. I love making them laugh and playing some intense four square and showing them how to do a layup. I love their spontaneity and their imaginations and even their tempers and indignation. I love their clunky jokes and the feeling of strong little arms wrapped around my neck. When I ran an after school program, evidence of kids enveloped me: K'nex pieces in my pockets, play dough under my fingernails, the faint smell of Raisin Bran in my hair. I've spent most of my life around them, whether they be family or kids I am being paid to take care of. I know children are a ton of work and expensive and that they are demanding and clever and I, in no way, am ready to have them right now, but I want them. I want a little boy, especially. I want to dress him in train conductor overalls and little board shorts and tiny onesies that say things like "I drool."

Everything is more fun with kids: the zoo, the park, the library, water slides, waiting rooms, grocery stores, the Footloose soundtrack. My friend Kelsey and I were talking the other day and she expressed this sentiment. I totally agree. If I had a kid to take around, I could go trick-or-treating and candy catching at parades, for example, and nobody would raise an eyebrow.

Tonight, Bridget and I were invited to dinner at her former professor's (now Dean) house. The Dean has a lovely home and a funny husband and two awesome kids that I got to meet for the first time. Within a half hour, I had both kids playing "slap" with me and thumb-warring and laughing and squirming. It felt so nice to be around that playfulness again.

I miss my little cousins. I miss Bridget's niece and nephew. I miss my after school kids. My sister got married a few months ago, so the possibility of me becoming an aunt is perhaps on the horizon. Maybe in a few years, I'll have someone of my own. We'll see. I could also coach 5th-grade girls basketball or something. You know, just test the waters.

Somehow, though, I don't think that will be enough.