Saturday is soccer day. And today was the last day of the spring soccer season. My two older kids play. My son is in one division and my daughter is in another, which means we either have to kill time between games, or the games overlap so my husband watches one kid (when he's not working) and I watch the other. Today, we had to be at the field at 8:30am for my son's first game. And my husband was working, so I got to wrangle up the three kids and haul everyone off to the field by myself. (I don't say that negatively, but it can be quite a chore to get the 4 of us up, dressed and out the door on time!) There is no shade near any of the soccer fields. And it was sunny and hot today!
My son's team won the first game, which meant they played again at 9:55, and my daughter's game was at 10:30. So there was a slight gap and a slight overlap. I put sunscreen on my shoulders twice because I could feel the sunburn starting. My daughter picked dandelions for me while she waited for her game to start. My youngest ran around with some other kids and tried running on the field in the middle of the game, as he does every week. I had to move my chair and the two bags I brought three times to different fields. My older son ran out of water. All the kids repeatedly bugged me for candy from the concession stand. I was starting to get cranky as I got hotter. And I figured I'd look like a lobster by the time we left.
However, despite the "inconveniences" and little annoyances, I admire my son and my daughter for playing soccer. I never did team sports growing up. I did gymnastics and dance for a few years, and I spent my high school years in the marching band, which I suppose is kind of the same thing as being on a sports team and kind of not. I appreciate the fact that my kids are learning team spirit and scoring and sharing the ball and a variety of rules that I don't know. So despite the hassle of getting 4 or 5 people up and out the door before 8am some Saturday mornings, I try my best not to complain about it. I support my kids and the sports they want to participate in, and if they discover one that they love, then I'll support them as long as they want to play it. The good comes with the bad, as they say. But I figure the experience of playing and the friendships they could potentially make and carry with them for years and years far outweigh having to get up at 6am on Saturday mornings. That's a responsibility I accept, because watching my kids play sports and grow, definitely makes me happy.
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