Family Water Polo

For those faithful readers who have been waiting for an account of this weekend's Love Parade or the Folsom Street Fair on this blog, I have to confess my absence from those autumnal Dionysian rites, so here are a few gratuitous teenage water polo shots.



I was in San Luis Obispo on the Central California Coast visiting my mother who had a lot of her insides chopped out after a major bout with diverticulitis.



It was touch-and-go for a couple of weeks after the surgery, but thanks to three sisters who have been bulldog patient advocates, particularly Susan (above), my mother has not only survived but looks like she she's going to make a full comeback.



On late Monday afternoon, sister Susan drove a whole branch of extended family to a water polo match between two arch-rival high schools...



...so we could cheer on her son Matthew (above) who was playing for the Arroyo Grande varsity team that handily destroyed San Luis Obispo 18-8.



My father and his wife Margie came along, and I reflected that the entire day had been a vivid illustration of The Way of All Flesh.



The morning had started with my mother at her fairly pleasant "transitional center" for about two-dozen elderly people with broken bodies, who had just gotten out of the hospital and needed rehab.



The day ended surrounded by the exuberant, unbroken bodies of 14-18 year old swimmers who made human existence feel very much like a circle game.