… of the kids’ basketball season. Bella and Harrison had their last games and team parties on Saturday, March 18. What a nutty day.
First, I helped my friend Marcie at an emergency preparedness fair hosted by another stake in our area. She had a table in the very cultural Cultural Hall, and also taught two classes called “Prepare to be your own hero” in the Relief Society room. While she taught the classes, I manned the table and answered questions. Marcie gets around lately – she recently taught a class in Richland stake for the RS sisters in several wards. She’s also been traveling around the western states, spreading the emergency preparedness love.
Marcie is quite the dynamo and a wonderful teacher. One lady also working the fair came over to our table, listened to Marcie talk for a few minutes, looked at me and asked, “Is she for real?" After her classes, Marcie would come back into the cultural hall, inevitably followed by glowing, starry-eyed Marcie groupies. I could always pick them out from everyone else.
INAWAY (to quote my grandmother)… I was there from 10:30 to 4:00 that day. Meanwhile, Hubby was running around like a chicken with its head cut off (Mom has actually witnessed this and apparently the saying is correct), running the kids around to soccer and basketball games. The geniuses (not) at Bella’s indoor soccer arena took it upon themselves, in the middle of the season, to schedule the last half of the games on SUNDAYS, which basically took Bella and Hubby, the coach, out of involvement. But at least that calmed our Saturdays down somewhat. Hubby has assured me that the double-scheduling of sports teams won’t ever happen again, which is good, because the last six Saturdays have been messy.
Hubby picked me up and bombarded me (“Bombardment!”) with the schedule for the rest of the day. We already knew he’d be leaving around 5:00 to work security for a game in Portland; but he had just found out at the kids’ games that their team parties were also happening this very evening. Bleah! Now it’s not that I don’t love my children and support them in their sports efforts, but I was coming off of 6 hours of standing next to a table, saying, “That’s a light stick! It gives off light for 12 hours!” and “Do you want to sign up to be in our email club?” I was ready to go home and – get this – do laundry. But it was not to be.
Off we went, first to the Blind Onion Pizza & Pub (yes, pub) for Bella's team party. She had great coaches. I attended one practice earlier in the season and was a bit concerned by all the yelling, but they ended up being very positive men, each with a child on the team. One coach told us, as they presented her pictures, certificate and medal, that she had the best attitude on the team. At the game against WSD, Bella told her coach that her throat hurt really bad – “all with a big smile on her face.” Cute thing. She was by far the youngest player and I was proud of her and the way she handled the obstacles that came her way.
We took Hubby to work at the game, and then ran back home to grab Brennan and Rosalind. They were thrilled to finally get out of the house. Off we went to Godfather’s Pizza, on the other end of town, to meet with Harrison’s team. We got there just in time to get Harrison’s trophy and pictures, order a pizza and say goodbye to all the other families (apparently all the driving had made us a little late). So the kids and I ate pizza, and made our way home.
The kids, of course, were so excited to get their new trophies for the season. We are very proud of them. I kind of wish I had ever been excited about sports. It just wasn’t my thing – I was the kid holed up somewhere with her nose in a book. ANY book. The medical book, the childbirth book, the Heloise book, the phone book. But I’m glad I married a sporty man and had some sporty kids. They’ve taught me a lot. It really was a crazy six weeks and it ended the same way – crazily – but as always, I feel a bit of a letdown now that it’s over. (Shhh – don’t tell Hubby.)