The Legendary Sirwent Luck

Back in high school days, we had one of those super-families among us, the Sirwents. There was a Sirwent kid in my grade and one in most of the surrounding grades. They were astounding. They all made the honor roll without fail. Every one of them was the star athlete of their grade. They were nice-looking too.

Mr. Sirwent was quietly nice, and well-spoken. Mrs. Sirwent was clearly from another planet. I wish I could go there to drink the water! She was stunning. Tall, tan, slender, beautiful, and young-looking. After 8 kids. None of the kids was as good-looking as her, but then they were half-Earthlings so the alien super-DNA was diluted. 

I went through school envying the Sirwent kids' luck, even as I admired their success. Naturally I had a crush on Kyle Sirwent. Good looks, star quarterback, top basketball scorer, contender for valedictorian, and totally unattainable. Who could resist that? But he didn't date. Better girls than I tried for him and failed.

Everybody talked about them. Apparently one of the Sirwent infants had a disease, and didn't have the strength to survive it for very long. Perhaps that's why the parents focused on health and sports. They formed neighborhood teams for the then-grade-schoolers. There were no events to compete in so they made their own, and made them fun.

By the time those kids hit junior high, they had the competitive sports down cold. While the rest of us were learning sports for the first time, the Sirwents learned how to fit homework into their practice schedules. When we were all talking on the phone for hours, they weren't.

None of the Sirwents dated much. They were too busy. I heard from his teammates that Kyle went home from basketball practice, ate, and practiced free throws until homework time. There was plenty of time for dating in college, after he earned all his scholarships. (Spoiler alert: he's still successful... tenured college professor, 2 handsome sons, happy marriage.)

Looking back through the eyes of somebody older and wiser, I wonder why I envied the Sirwent luck. It wasn't luck, and alien DNA had nothing to do with it. They worked their butts off and focused on what was important. They got perfect grades because they did their homework. They excelled in sports because they practiced all the time.

So it's not likely that Mrs. Sirwent will show up in a space ship and ask if I want to join her for a drink on Planet A+. Though if she did, I'd go.