Lessons from the Soccer Field

Are we crazy??!  4 soccer games in one Saturday? Isn’t the reason we play recreational league & not challenge league so we DON’T have days like this??!  On the hottest day so far this year – predicted high temperature was 89 degrees.  To say I was dreading this day would be a understatement…due to weather problems and scheduling snafus, both Stephen & Emma were scheduled to play 2 soccer games on the same day.  Game times were 9am, 12pm, 1pm & 4pm.  Steve and I had been talking & planning on simply how to survive the day.  The running joke was we would take our pop-up camper, cots, generator & the rope lights we hang from the camper’s canopy.   On Friday, I cleaned the house & got the laundry caught up – well almost – and did the weekly grocery shopping figuring if I had all that done I wouldn’t sit at the games thinking about all that I had to do when I got home.  On Saturday morning, we packed a huge cooler with water, sandwiches (homemade pimiento cheese for the grown ups), water, slices of pound cake leftover from Friday night’s small group, fruit cups and team snack for the early game.  We also had bags of chips, crackers, sunscreen, bug spray, books, chairs and our EZ-Up tent.  We were ready!  I had checked the schedules and all our games were on the same field so we planned to make camp at mid-field and stay put all day.  And you know what, it was a great day!

How in the world could it have been such a great day?  Here’s how…

First, it forced us to relax.  When we looked at the game times, we decided that trying to go home between any of the games was silly.  So we planned to stay all day and were prepared.  We had plenty of food & water and shared with all the kids’ friends.  And knowing the house was in order and we had food in the fridge helped me sit back and just enjoy the day.  Steve sat in his chair, watched the games & Twittered.  If he’d been home, he would have been working on the truck or on the computer or in the yard, etc.  It was so good to see him kicked back.

Second, we got to hang out with friends – new & old.  We knew some of the parents on Emma’s team, but not all of them.  Having the only shelter on the sidelines made us pretty popular! We had some great conversations & even had the opportunity to invite one family to church!  My friend Andrea was there with us through Emma’s 2nd game.  Her son Austin is on Emma’s team so we’d been talking at practice about what a long day it would be, etc.  Her hubby Garrett was back & forth between bidding a job & his son’s football game but got to see most of  Austin’s games.  We had a great time just chatting while the kids were on the playground between games.  Andrea was there for Stephen’s 1st game and cheered him on with us.

And being together as a family was the best part.  We saw both kids play both their games which before this season never happened.  Steve was always coaching or I had work stuff, but not this season. This is what kids’ sports is supposed to be about…families being together, cheering for their teams & learning to win & lose with dignity.

So we left the field at 5:30pm sunburned and tired, but somehow refreshed, too.  We have 2 more Saturdays that will be like this.  I’m sure we won’t be so lucky to have all 4 games on the same field again, but that’s okay.  The only change we’re thinking about is bringing 2 EZ-Up tents so there’s more room for everyone.

Oh, and we won all 4 games!  Emma’s team won 2-0 in the 1st game, 1-0 in the 2nd. Considering they lost their season opener 8-0, we were very pleasantly surprised.   Stephen scored one goal in his 1st game which they won, 4-3.  His 2nd game was a nail biter for sure.  I told Steve before halftime I thought it would be a 1 goal game but didn’t know which team would score it…just glad it was us!

I’ve learned to look for lessons in life because I think God always wants to teach me something & this day was no different.  I learned that planning is key to keeping stress at a minimum on days like that.  Having plenty of snacks & drinks saved a lot of whining and a lot of money at the concession stand.  And I learned (again) that there’s nothing wrong with stopping everything in life to be with my family…in fact it’s what I’m supposed to do.

Miscellaneous Monday on Tuesday

My sister-in-law, Jennifer has a great blog that I love to read!  She does this cool Miscellaneous Monday post – she posts 3 random facts about herself and then asks her readers to do the same.  Instead of commenting on her blog, I decided to post my own 3 random facts here and link to her blog so you can get to know her, too. (I was busy yesterday, so I’m just getting to this today)

1.  I was named by my older sister – she turned 8 about 1 month before I was born.  I think she picked Catherine because my Mom had a good friend with that name.  Bonus:  I’ve never gone by any nickname of Catherine.  Not Cathy or Cate or whatever.  The only person who ever got away with calling me Cathy without being corrected, was Steve’s late Grandmother.

2.  I was a Brownie in 1st grade.  I loved it, especially the play we did at the end of the year.  We met after school one day a week at 1st Baptist Church.  We would walk there after school…wouldn’t happen today, but I digress.  When the year was over, the leader had just had a new baby and couldn’t lead the group anymore.  Most of the other Moms – mine included – had full time jobs and couldn’t lead the group either.  Now that I think about it, I wonder why no one thought to have the group meet in the evenings…

3.  I’ve never “officially” broken a bone.  I cracked my collar bone when I fell backward off a split-rail fence and landed on my back.  And I broke the little toe on my left foot about a year ago, but never went to the doctor.  What’s the point..it’s not like they’d do anything about it.

So, there are my 3 miscellaneous facts…check out Jennifer’s here…

http://myderbe.wordpress.com/