So, Mrs. O’Neil started off by telling me that I should call her Terri and I let her know that only my grandma called my Carolyn, everyone else called me Carrie. With that out of the way, she started to explain a little bit about Kevin. We talked about a bunch of things and then the conversation got interesting.

She said, “Kevin was born a bit premature and only weighed four and a half pounds at birth. It was a good two weeks before we were able to take him out of the hospital. He’s always been small since then. The doctors said he’d catch up, and he’s had a few growth spurts lately, but he is still only about four feet tall and only ways about 60 pounds. The child development charts say he’s about the size of your average 9 year old.”

“Is he sensitive about his size?” I asked.

“No, not really. His dad was short, only about 5’ 4” and I’m only about 5’ 2″ myself so he didn’t feel bad about being little. We joke about it a little bit, but it never really was an issue. Part of is that he’s a great athlete.”

“Really?” I asked surprised.

“Oh sure, you know football, ultimate fighting, that sort of thing.”

“Really?”

“Wow, you’re gullible,” she laughed. “No, he does do karate and has a brown belt but his real sport is gymnastics. He’s small but it’s all muscle. In fact, next week is his last formal practice for the summer. Then the studio goes on vacation. It’s the day before I leave, so I can still take him to it.”

“That’s cool. I did gymnastics when I was little, too and I loved it. What’s his event?”

“He’s great in all of the ones the boys do, but his specialty is floor exercises. When he’s feeling better ask him to do a back flip for you.”

“I will. I’d like to see that. He reminds me a bit of my little brother when he was that age.”

“Fifteen, you mean?” She asked with a grin.