Envy! envy! envy!

It's hard for me not to envy other people, even if it among the worst of sins. Greed gets a lot more bad press these days, but if you asked me, envy is much more common, and has much more influence. Why else would the part of envy be in control of the government, having ejected the party of greed?*

Today I envy my 12 year-old son. I don't envy him his youth, especially not the next few years. Many seem to look back on adolescence with fond nostalgia. Not me! I wish that I could forget it. Especially a lot of the stupid things I said.

Rather, I envy my son's experience. He's now had all sorts of things that I never had:

• braces;
• Catholic school; and
• his soccer team today won the district tournament, in a splendid game.

Envy, envy, envy… Well, okay. I probably don't envy the braces. I was also not at all keen on Catholicism as a youth (I was a Baptist, and had read some Chick comics, among other things).

But winning the soccer tournament… He played well, too. You shoulda seen him: red-faced, bathed in rain and sweat, pushing himself even after five games this weekend—I was impressed.

And proud.

And a teeny bit envious.

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* Don't answer that.