little league

Nathan is about to start his first Little League season next month. As I'm getting excited about this, it has come to my attention that, apparently, the kids don't share batting helmets anymore. When I asked Wife why that was, she responded with, Head Lice. My first reaction was unbelief. And cue flashback...

When I was playing baseball as a wee lad in Poway, the thought never occurred to any of us to purchase our own batting helmet. The only thing on our minds was to try and find the least sweaty one. Not the one  without little lice bugs crawling around in it. And for that matter, when did sharing a drink, or sandwich, or even a piece of gum with your friend become outlawed? 

I will admit that I did some pretty gross things as a kid, but I don't currently have any of the Hep alphabet, nor have I ever even had a cold sore. Am I some super human immune person? Certainly not. Have you seen my medical record folder from Kaiser? It's bigger than War And Peace! I was hurt all the time as a kid. Broken bones, skinned knees, I have an older brother for pete's sake. We didn't get head lice growing up. I'm not sure if I even knew if any of my friends had it. Did it not exist in the 80's? Pretty sure it did. Head lice isn't one of those things that just materializes out of nowhere. So, why now are we purchasing separate equipment for our kids? Why are we telling them to not drink from the same cup? Okay, I get why you shouldn't share gum. That's just gross. But hey, I was a kid. I did stupid things. Kid things. Jumping off the bridge into a bamboo forrest wasn't the brightest. Neither was sliding down the huge hill on a piece of cardboard, with no way to stop, unless you count the fence at the bottom of the hill. That hurt. But it was fun. I digress.

So, now I've gotta buy an extra helmet, that isn't going to fit him next year. Crap.