Those Boys of Mine

Well, Italo didn't make the cut with the pro-soccer tryout and Marco hasn't yet apologized for calling me a Stupid Old Man, Mother Fucker or however it was he phrased it.
Yesterday, before he looked at who was still in the pro-tryouts, Italo came out and asked me what the word perseverance meant. I told him it meant the ability or willingness to keep trying at something. He asked me if it was the same as persistent. I said it had the same root, but perseverance was almost always a good thing, while someone who is too persistent can be a pain in the ass. At least in general use.
And then this morning, though he didn't tell me me didn't make the cut, I flipped over an envelope on the kitchen table and there in black magic marker was something like "Italo Gorman is a worthless piece of shit. He can't do anything, sucks at everything...." and so forth. There was a marker on the table and I'm guessing he must have written it sometime last night or maybe this morning before he want to work.
I'm sorry buddy. Time to apply some perseverance. You'll make the cut next time. THis was your first glimpse at that level of play. Relive it, absorb it, utilize it.
Marco, on the other hand, backed Chepa's new (1998) Plymouth van right into the quarter panel on my 1998 Ranger, nearly crushing the gas cap and really giving the truck some character it didn't need. He did it in the driveway, not realizing that my truck was parked behind and to the right of Chepa's van that he'd borrowed.
He felt awful about that one. Just started sobbing how sorry he was and that he deserved to die and all. I took a look: it sucks but won't interfere with the door opening, so who cares? Accidents happen.
Funny thing is he can apologize for an accident like that but not for choosing to call me names most people wouldn't get away with.
Even funnier: at some point during his guilty funk he put three $20 bills on my desk to help pay for the damages. I saw them and left them there. This morning when I came back from taking him to work at 4:30 AM or so, they were gone. I guess his guilt only lasted so long and I wasn't quick enough in putting them into my wallet.
Ah well, what the heck. I still love them both.