"Coach"

Last night after dinner, I was slipping on a sweatshirt and gym shoes to go to a meeting at Jack and Sam's elementary school, when Nadine broke the news to the boys "Dad's going to a meeting at your school"
Jack & Sam responded in unison "what meeting!? Where? How come? Can we go!?"
Nadine explained that I was going to a basketball coaches meeting to learn what team I would be coaching, either Jack's 1st grade team or Sam's pre-K team.
Their eyes started to twinkle as they processed the thought of me coaching one of their teams. You could see on their faces how hard each one was routing to hear that I would be coaching their team. For all the games and practices they had already attended in their young careers, this would be the first opportunity to be coached by one of their parents.
About 40 minutes later, I returned home and was almost knocked over by two wild boys, eager to hear which team I was coaching. So, I carefully crouched down, put my arms around them and said, "I have some good News". Their eyes grew bigger and they talked over each other: "What-What-Are you coaching me-Are you coaching me?-I think your coaching me-who are you coaching?"
I paused for a little more drama, and then....."I'm coaching both of you!"
They looked as if we just announced we were buying a swimming pool, a dog, some pop guns and a bag of candy all within 5 minutes.
I added "I am a coach for one of you (Jack: staring for JJ Mackay's Disposal) and an assistant coach (Sam: staring for Dunking Donuts) for one of you.
Sam "what's an assistant coach?"
Jack "They stand next to the coach"
Sam "What do they do?"
Jack "They do what the coach says" (sounds like the wife/husband relationship)
They spent the next 10 minutes delighting in the thought of having me as their coach, and coming up with wild suggestions of what they would do at practice:
"I'm going to run all over the place even if you tell me to stop, I'm going to kick the ball far away, I'm not going to stop when you blow the whistle" They were testing to see what my coaching response would be, they already knew what they could get away with when I was just their Dad. I could tell as they settled into bed that the loved the thought of this new twist in our relationship.
The next morning, I was awakened by Jack Jumping on me in bed and exclaiming "Hi Coach!" He said it as if it was a much higher rank then "Dad". After all a coach commanded respect. A coach was cool. He blew a whistle, had control of other kids, always had fun and taught new games.
I think I'm going to like this new role.