It Happened Again

Do you ever have those moments when you think "really? Again?" Well, I had one last night, only my response was"well of course you did! I wasn't there!!!"

What am I talking about? Scoring in a soccer game. We are a soccer family and if you know soccer, the older you get, oftentimes the lower the score of a game (if it's pretty evenly matched), and not every position has an opportunity to score so that makes scoring in my book a big deal.

Kat, who is now a freshman, is playing mid-field for the High School Varsity team. On her club team she tends to play defense with an occasional spot at forward. She doesn't get many opportunities to score.

Last week I had to miss one of her games which was an hour away and I needed to stay home to get the house ready for some of her friends who were coming over later in the day. I got a text saying "we won...I scored." I missed it!!! Earlier in the summer I missed a tournament because we didn't think she was going to play much so we sent her up with team mates. We got a text after one game, "I scored!" I was teasing her the other day saying I was going to just tell her I wasn't going to come to any games, but then show up and maybe if she thought I wasn't there, she'd score. 

Which brings me to last night, well not really, because I really couldn't go. Hubby went to last nights home game. I had to be at the church because it was the first night of a conference and I just had to be there to run our product table. Anyways, I kept getting texts that the score was 0-0, then they stopped coming. A little while later Kat walks into the door and after informing me that she got bit by fire ants, says the game went to Penalty Kicks (PK's) and she scored one! My response? "Of course you did! I wasn't there"! I gave her a huge hug, told her that was awesome, looked at her fire ant bites and she was a happy camper.

I remember growing up and while I didn't play sports I was in the band and on the Drill and Dance Team. It wasn't often I saw my dad in the stands. I really don't know the reasons why he rarely came, but I just know I was bummed when I didn't see him and didn't feel as though the reasons were very valid. 

I often see so many absent parents from their daughters' games. I know there are many reasons and many of them are valid, but you can tell the ones that aren't there for valid reasons. It shows on the girls' faces. I've even had mothers tell me that their husbands don't come because they're just not into soccer. WHAT? I don't care if you're not into a sport, if your child plays it, then learn to like it and be into it. 

When we are unable to be at any of our girls games (for reasons other than their sibling has a game at the same time at a different location), we always let them know that we would much rather be at their game. We cheer them on, build them up, let them know how much we enjoy watching them play. So while they may be "bummed" that we couldn't make it, they understand and know that mom and dad are in their corner cheering them on and super excited to hear all about the game. 

On a humorous side note, her head coach was at the hospital last night while his wife was in labor. They are also friends of ours from church, so I was getting regular texts as to her progress. At about 6:00 I got a text saying she was dilated to an 8 and things were going well. About 5 seconds later I get a text "so, what's the score of the soccer game?" I just had to laugh. Here his wife is in labor (of course she had an epidural so wasn't feeling any pain) and he's checking the score. He got a free pass though because, after all he is the head coach and he and his wife love soccer.



With Joy UNquenchable,