I am sitting on my bed.
I have my face buried in my laptop, not too aware of what is going on around me.
The TV is on and American Idol is blaring - people singing - people clapping - people cheering.
Suddenly, I hear a noise.
I look up.
Out of the corner of my eye ... I see my son.
He is sneaking down the hallway outside of my bedroom.
He is crawling on his knees towards the stairs.
He has roller blades on his feet.
I scream, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE HOUSE WITH THOSE ROLLER SKATES ON YOUR FEET?"
I scare him to death and he nearly jumps out of his skin!
"You scared me!" he exclaims, "I needed to get something out of my room," he begins to slide down the stairs on his backside.
"I'm going to scare you - if you don't get out of here with those skates," I am no longer screaming, but he knows that I am irritated with him.
Suddenly, he crawls back up the stairs and heads towards my room; I think he must be loosing his mind, to be moving in my direction. He pulls himself along the hallway floor, like a two-legged dog that has lost function of his rear legs - pitiful. He's saying, "They are not roller skates (*huff-huff*). They are roller-blades," he is getting closer and closer to the door of my room.
"What are you doing? Where do you think you are going?" I am looking down at him as he pulls himself along on the carpet next to my bed.
"I'm gonna go out your door," he is making his way to the deck off my bedroom and he is trying so hard to show me that he is not going to let these roller-blades touch the floor - he knows he is treading on thin ice.
I just watch.
He makes it to the door.
He stands up.
He walks out on to the deck and shuts the door behind him.
He heads for the stairs.
I have images of him tumbling *thump-thump-thump-thump-thump* head over heals down the stairs - roller blades and all.
I walk over and look out the door to make sure he is okay.
It is at this moment that I see what he has in his hands.
The thing he was so determined to retrieve from his room ...
On the upside ... I am thinking ... What is that boy going to do? Was he outside on the driveway just skating around and it hit him --- "I gotta go get my yoyo and ... maybe, one of Alexis' jump-ropes. I'll just skate on into the house and go get those things."
After I saw that he made it down the stairs successfully, I went back to sit on my bed. I didn't need to stay and watch - I knew what he was doing - he was ... JUMPING ROPE WHILE ROLLER-BLADING AND WALKING THE DOG WITH HIS LIGHT-UP YOYO - all at the same time.
What can I say ... that boy is destined for greatness.