BY JJ WALLINGFORD

I have a tendency to watch a lot of sports, though mostly men’s, I admit. I want my 12 year old daughter, Jessie, to realize women can play and excel at sports too, so we went to the Seattle Storm game versus the Washington Mystics the other night. I don’t know why Seattleites keep saying we need to bring professional basketball back to town. We do have professional basketball here: the Seattle Storm play at Key Arena.

The Storm started out, and finished, strongly. They looked confident and poised and I’m not sure why they started the game with a 2-3 record. I’m so glad we were able to watch at least one game this season as my favorite WNBA player, Tina Thompson, is retiring at the end of this year. She’s played for 17 years and deserves to take a break but I hope she stays involved with the sport for years to come.

Tina was the first pick of the inaugural WNBA season by the Houston Comets in 1997 and, living in Fort Worth at the time, I made my way down to Houston to watch her and her teammates play. She looked just as good Tuesday night as she did all those years ago. She scored 30 points in her recent win and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time for her many rebounds. I will miss her when she retires.

The game ended in a tie and in overtime the Storm finally pulled away enough that the Mystics couldn’t make yet another comeback. I’m glad this was the game Jessie got to see: a fast paced, exciting down to the wire game where the Storm’s perseverance and determination carried them into the win column. I look forward to seeing more games like that night’s: in person and on TV.

The June 28th game versus the New York Liberty is Pride night for the Storm and the announcer made a point to mention this several times last night. I cringed every time he mentioned it because my partner, Janet, and I made a huge mistake a couple of years ago.

Janet and I went to Maui and loved it so much we made plans to go again this year and bring Jessie with us. What we didn’t think about was the timing: we booked a room for the last part of June not realizing that would mess up our Seattle Pride festivities for 2013.  The only consolation? We’ll be in Maui for Seattle Pride. I can celebrate from afar, trust me. I will raise a Mai Tai for you.

June 28th would be a great day to go see a Storm game, embrace our Pride in a welcoming and joyous environment and celebrate Janet and my fifth anniversary. Yes, the June 28th Storm game would have been a perfect opportunity for us if only we had planned a little better.

I think Jessie enjoyed the game; she actually paid attention and asked relative questions which led me to believe she wasn’t just humoring me. She didn’t ask me to leave early, which she always does when I drag her to a baseball game, and seemed content during the game. The only thing she was upset about was the fact the concession stands don’t serve cotton candy among their candy choices. One thing baseball has going for it.

The opportunities Jessie has now, opportunities that weren’t around even twenty years ago, are growing. She can take up a sport, like basketball or soccer, and find herself playing at a professional level long after college. I won’t get into the disparity between the NBA and the WNBA, but we are moving in the right direction. Jessie doesn’t just have a couple of occupations to choose from, in life and in sports, and I look forward to seeing her journey.

The world isn’t perfect, I’m painfully aware of this, but I hope Jessie realizes she can do anything she sets her sights on…the fact she’s a girl should be just another genetic roll of the dice like hair, skin, eye color. If this isn’t enough for her, if she listens to the doubters out there, then I hope she can find solace in Maui. She’s way too young for a Mai Tai, though. I’ll have one for her, too, while I’m at it.

A long time ago I realized I had two choices in life: I could either laugh or cry. I chose to laugh. I share my humorous life with my partner, daughter and Boston terrier in far south Seattle. Two things I do take seriously are family and sports. Let’s talk at www.facebook.com/jj.wallingford or shoot an email to jj.wallingford@yahoo.com.

The post On sports, pride and growing up as a girl first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Imagine, in just a few years, she could have a whole different personality!

BY JJ WALLINGFORD
Lesbian.com

I love my twelve year old daughter, Jessie, I really do, but I think her hormones are starting to take over and some days I’m not sure I recognize her anymore.  She’s starting to say and do quite a few weird things. A while back we were walking along the Deschutes River and I pointed out some trash along the bank.  Jessie said, “Oh, look at that trash, what is wrong with people nowadays?”  Nowadays?  She’s twelve!  What days is she talking about?

I’m thinking she needs to hang out with people her own age and not us old-ish parents with our old people sayings.  Either that or I’m going to have to look for the alien pod that changed my daughter into a very similar looking, but very different child.  I hadn’t made up my mind until I took her shopping the other day.

Jessie and I went to look for clothes at Kohl’s and we were walking along a main aisle when I noticed she wasn’t next to me anymore.  I stopped to look around, went back to where I had last seen her, and what to my wondering eyes should appear?  She was picking up a bunch of towels that had fallen on the floor.  She carefully picked up each one and was putting them back in their proper places.

I could only stand there and watch her. Apparently this wasn’t a common occurrence because I wasn’t the only one.

I looked over at the Kohl’s employee and said, “Are you seeing the same thing I’m seeing?”

The stunned woman replied, “A tall, thin pre-teen girl picking something up off the floor?”

“Oh, good, I’m not hallucinating.”  We stood like that, two momentarily flummoxed adults, until Jessie finished and looked over at us.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Mom…and lady I don’t know?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do that before, Jessie.  Why did you pick up all those towels?”

“Oh, that kind of stuff really bugs me.”

REALLY?!?  This is the same girl who, after a bath, will ball up her towel and throw it on her bedroom floor.  And if that ball was in the middle of the floor, in front of her door, she would step over it until said towel ball decomposed back into the earth.

“Wait a minute.  Why don’t you pick up the stuff on your bedroom floor?”  Because, honestly, I don’t see a difference between the towels at Kohl’s and the stuff she throws on the floor in her own home.

“Oh, that’s different, Mom.  I would never have picked those up at home.  I want the stuff on the floor in my bedroom.”

“Even your wet towel?”

“Oh, I just never notice my towel on the floor.  You can pick that up if you want to.”

Oh. My. Goodness.  She never notices that, yet she saw, out of the corner of her eye, towels on the floor along the back wall at Kohl’s which bugged her so much she had to carefully fold them all up and put them away. Please, if you can explain, even a little, what goes on in the mind of a child, I would greatly appreciate it.  Now if you don’t mind I have to go and search for the pod in my house because I’m pretty sure that wasn’t my daughter at Kohl’s.  Maybe I’ll show her the movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and see if she makes that weird screeching noise at me.

Essay original published on JJWallingford.WordPress.com

A long time ago I realized I had two choices in life: I could either laugh or cry. I chose to laugh. I share my humorous life with my partner, daughter and Boston terrier in far south Seattle. Two things I do take seriously are family and sports. Let’s talk at www.facebook.com/jj.wallingford or shoot an email to jj.wallingford@yahoo.com.

The post Can someone please explain children to me? first appeared on Lesbian.com.