The Comedy Class is ON!

Shane is not an overtly emotional person. If anything, the word “reserved” is an understatement.

So-called “bad” things seem to roll off of him, or even over him. And while he does process these things, he almost always considers them with intelligence and rationality. Shane rarely gets upset, and when he does get angry or sad, he deals with his emotions on a personal level. Then he moves on.

In other words, emotionally speaking, Shane is the most mature person I’ve ever met.

But I am watching from the sidelines as his increasingly rare “wants” are all-but ignored. It starts at home, with Shane’s parents spending most of their time and energy on things other than Shane. While Shane entertains himself, his parents are on the phone, the computer, and working elsewhere. On the occasions when their time isn’t already taken on themselves, their energies are almost always focused on Dylan’s wants, needs and happiness.

Meanwhile, Shane has only a few interests – one of which is rock climbing. Last year, he took rock climbing lessons – and loved them. Unfortunately, he aged out of the class while still a beginner, and wasn’t practiced enough to get into any of the teen leagues – so he had to give up rock climbing.

A similar plight happened two years ago, when Shane was incredibly excited – for the first time ever – to learn how to play baseball. He got a new glove and practiced throwing in the yard. He took an hour’s worth of batting lessons at a local cage.

But they only had enough players for two teams. The “other” moms and dads didn’t want to watch games between the same two teams every week, so they canceled the entire season.

Shane didn’t ask to play baseball again. And he won’t have a chance to do any rock climbing until he joins the high school club (if he still wants to do that by then).

We also signed him up for a comedy/acting class this fall. I got an email last week that said the class “may be canceled due to low enrollment.”

Given our history, I was genuinely surprised when they decided they had enough people enrolled after all! It was a glorious day.

After warning him about the possible impending doom last week, I texted right away when I got the news: “Shane! The comedy class is ON!”

Several minutes later, a texted came in from Shane. “Okie,” it said. (That’s as enthused as he gets.)

And Shane is going to play ping pong again for the winter session. Shane loves ping pong. We are fortunate enough to live near a world-famous table tennis center – one that has actually trained champions and Olympians in the art of ping pong.

My pessimism, however, is getting the best of me. I expect that, sometime soon, the Olympic-ping-pong-training center will suddenly decide to make a move, taking its entire organization and reputation far away – maybe to California, or New York.

It’s just the way things go for Shane.

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