behind closed doors

Everybody puts up fronts...the things about them they let the people around them see. They push out the things they think people will want to see and put them right up front, while pulling back the stuff about them even they don't like. You do it. I do it. I doubt anyone's immune. Some folks are fond of saying, "What you see is what you get." More often than not, and probably always, that is what you get...but you get more, and you may not like the more part.

I say this because you never know what's lurking behind that front. Sometimes it's harmful, but it doesn't have to be. More often that not, it's just stuff people think of as embarrassing. Yes, I'm going someplace.

The youngster's first baseball coach is a great guy. His son went to school with the youngster, but I never knew him until he picked the youngster to play on his team. The kid knew nothing about baseball. Under this coach, though, he flourished. he learned and enjoyed it. The coach was encouraging, and really cared...not just about the youngster, but all the kids. The youngster played three seasons under this coach, and they were the most enjoyable of his little league career. His wife was always at the games and did a lot of the team mom kinds of things. She let everyone know when there were pictures, organized volunteers for the concessions, kept score...which is an art I never learned, that sort of thing. We got to know her and their other kids. They were just great people...and still are, I think.

We'd see him at church or school on occasion. When his son and the youngster went to separate high schools, we saw less of them. We'd see them at church on occasion, but rarely all together. His wife was a nurse and worked nights, so she was rarely there. I saw him a few times in the last month, and stopped him a few weeks ago, just to ask how it's going. Everything was great. His son switched schools, because transportation was getting difficult to the Catholic school in downtown J'ville, so he was going to a new public high school. It also helped that the new public school hired a baseball coach he had worked with in the past. He asked about our upcoming bike ride...how the youngster was faring...and so on.

Sunday evening, I was talking to a neighbor who's a realtor. She said, "I finally met the youngster's old baseball coach, but as you know, the circumstances weren't all that great. You always said he was a real good guy, and he is, but.."

"Whoa...circumstances?? What (knowing her profession)? Are they selling the house? Is he having money issues (thinking another foreclosure victim)? Lose a job? Moving out of town?" I had no idea.

"Oh, you don't know...they're getting divorced. She's leaving him. He's looking for something small and cheap to rent."

I just saw the guy, and he didn't say a thing. Granted, that's not exactly something you blurt out when someone asks "how's it going," but I'm shocked..still...over a day later. They always just seemed to fit together. I never thought...but then again, all I ever saw is what they showed me. I have no idea what went on behind closed doors, or what led to this decision. All I saw was two people devoted to their kids, and not a whole lot about what happened between the two of them. You just never know....