Thoughts on "Check-In Check-Out"

Tonight at dinner I couldn't help but to overhear the table of girls next to us as one proudly exclaimed to her friends, "I'm officially the Mayor of Southport Grocer! I've checked-in over 200 times!" 

After I puked in my mouth a little, 

I secretly thought to myself for a moment about how sad our obsession with technology has become
(me, very much included in the aforementioned "our")

An "app" is no longer a starter before lunch or dinner, but 
merely a $.99 download to one of our various smartphones. 

And when we say that we've "talked" to someone, that could very well just mean that we've connected via text or email -- 
never actually communicating live or by phone call. 

Foursquare and Facebook have redefined what it is to "check-in".
And after dinner, when the kind cashier asked me if I was ready to "check-out" as the convenient store was closing, I got to thinking about all the above while hoofing it home. 

There was once a time when "check-in" and "check-out" were moves I'd only ever used on the soccer field. As a left wing, my role as a forward was ultimately to score goals. So when the midfielder went to throw in the ball, my mission was to quickly "check-in" so not to be off-sides, and immediately once the ball was in play, to even more quickly "check-out" so to beat the defender, break away with the ball, and help win games for the team. 

But life changes. And we grow up. And we learn sooner than later, that with time this too shall pass. And we check-in and out of relationships, schools, jobs, hobbies, flights, hotel rooms, the list goes on. But I gotta admit, for a fleeting moment on the walk back to my apartment tonight, I oh-so-vividly remembered the feeling of not having all these adult experiences, and how simple my life once was when soccer was practically my religion, which in turn, made Mia Hamm my God ;) 

When I was eleven years old, I used to have this Nike ad framed next to my bed. I had the poem memorized by heart and recited it to myself before every soccer game I ever played thereafter...

Dancer

by Mia Hamm

When you were a child your mother thought,
As mothers sometimes do,
That you were strong enough
And sure enough
To someday be a dancer.

But when you were five
Or was it six or was it nine
You didn't want to dance,
You couldn't bear to dance
Unless you were dancing in the grass,
And dancing in the mud
As children often do
As children often do.

And then your father kicked you a ball.
And the ball was the shape of the whole wide world to you. And now if you see green you can only think of one thing to do. And the world slips away from your feet. And the sky slips down into your arms.

And you are free you are free 

you are absolutely free
To be who you want.
To go where you can.

To be wild to be loud 

to fly in the mud 

and run in the rain.

Strong enough 

Sure enough 

Like a dancer.

I haven't thought about Mia Hamm in ages. 

But it was a pretty awesome feeling tonight

to recall the days when I absolutely worshiped her

and every single blade of grass

she kicked ass on :)