Kids

Last night, at the Subs 'n' Sounds concert, two boys were sitting in the row in front of me. I'm terrible at guessing ages, but they're probably in elementary school. We had maybe 15 or 20 minutes to wait before the concert would actually start, so I watched them playing hand games together (not too obviously, I hope). The first game they were playing involved slapping each other's hands (not lightly, either), and the second one (I think there's a name for it, but I don't know it) involved getting ammo(?), guarding, or shooting at the opponent on each successive turn. The kids were laughing, smiling despite the hand slapping, just enjoying each other and the fun of playing together. One kid had these sports glasses things strapped around his head with an elastic strap. The other one had shaggy dirty blond surfer hair. I thought that when these two boys got older, these surface elements of physical appearance could be a social barrier to them hanging out with each other. As you get older, entering middle school, you become more aware of your appearance and whether you are fitting in with what's cool at the time. I imagined that sports-glasses kid could get made fun of for wearing those. But seeing them together, enjoying each other's company through something as simple as hand games, made me think that these young kids are unknowingly living more humanly than we might live when we are older. Innocent and free of the superficial things we concern ourselves with (our personal appearances, our homes and cars, etc.), they can simply connect with each other.

For a long time, I had said I would never have kids. As I watched them, I thought that perhaps this was one of the joys that would make it worth it.