Expecting the Unexpected
Both of our younger daughters play football for town teams. Football was completely their own idea – when the kids were little we imagined a future filled with dance classes, hockey, swimming, ice skating, horse riding, or whatever other stereotypical activities you fill your head with when girls come along. By the time they were in junior school we were taking the youngest to Judo, the middle daughter to Rugby, and the eldest to Football.
Life never seems to work out the way you expect.
Our children are never going to be as talented as the majority of their respective teams, but we never have to drag them out of bed on match days, or to console them on the days when better teams win. They always leave the pitch smiling, and ask what we are having for lunch.
From time to time the conversation over the evening meal turns around to “what would you like to be when you are older?”. From a very young age our middle girl has talked about becoming a Police dog handler. This has far more to do with looking after a dog than any sense of civic responsibility. Our younger and older children have no idea what they might do. You know how you have a worrying vision of your youngest child stood in a ploughed field at a music festival, covered in body paint, and surrounded by hundreds of friends? No? Just us? I’ll be quiet then.