Over the past few days I've spent a lot of time in the rain. In Georgia, we have gotten more than our fair share of water falling from the sky, filling our lakes, streams, back yards, parking lots, basements and occasional vehicle. Such has been the experience of all Georgians for the past few months. Also,Georgia has experienced record cool weather. It's August and we've just broken a record that was set in the late 1800's by not going above 70 degrees. Crazy but I'm sure it's due to some form of man made global warming or the fact that we just had auditions for American Idol or maybe it's the fact that the braves were on a huge winning streak or that our Mayor wants to build a new stadium for the Falcons. Crazy things can effect our delicate meteorological balance. Take your pick but either way, we got us some strangely cool weather and rain. Which is great if your going for a run but not so great if your wanting to use your hand held musical/electronic device when your running or doing some form of landscaping work, painting your deck or driving in rush hour. Atlanta drivers don't do so well navigating wet, slippery, bumper to bumper roads.
My time in this abundant anomaly was spent at a soccer tournament, but not in Georgia. I'm convinced that I brought the liquid "character developing substance" with me. Hanna and I headed out late Friday evening, after I got off work and drove to Asheville, SouthCarolina for a weekend of soccer. We didn't hit any heavy rain during the drive,which was a great blessing cause I was already very tired.
But rain it did over the weekend. Hanna played in rain soaked cleats and I sat, like the "sedate" soccer Mom that I'm so famous for being, on the sidelines in my hot pink chair holding a huge oversized umbrella, drinking a Starbucks Venti sized coffee with two shots of peppermint and room for cream. Hot this time but I've been known to drink it iced as well. All I can tell you about the weekend is that my girl didn't get a single foul and I didn't either. Guess we are both mellowing with age.
Yep. I have been known to be that momma, yelling on the sidelines, calling my teenage daughter baby girl and fighting the urge to take out the referee when he made a call that I didn't agree with. I've been censured and stared at, corrected and asked to move my chair. I say it's those latent Red-neck tendencies coming out. It sort of runs in the family. I get it from my daddy. My husband doesn't want to even stand near me at a game. I'm not sure why that is. It just can't be due to embarrassment. I mean, I've never been asked to leave a game. (For those of you who don't know this story, you'll have to ask him.)
Soccer has been a huge part of our lives. Crazy for a Georgia girl who grew up eating, sleeping and breathing football. I spent more time on a football field growing up than almost anywhere else. When Fall came you could always find me in the stands or on the field. Cheering on my beloved Stockbridge Tigers or yelling for the Bulldogs. Vince Dooley was a hero of mine and of course Uga, the Bulldog mascot stole my heart. We are talking Hershal Walker days.
But football has been replaced in my life and although I still keep up with the Falcons and Packers, soccer is the sport of the day. (Barry is trying his best to throw cross country and basketball in the mix but we are slow to jump.) But now, Soccer is upon us and this weekend was the first of a series of games we are going to be attending.
And attend we did. Nothing, absolutely nothing can replace this tine with my girl though. I'm able to enjoy this season like none before and we are going to do it. The lessons learned are vast and run deep. The "team" mentality as well as personal responsibility are just two of the many things that my kids have learned thru this sport. How to work for as well as fight for what you want. How to earn a position and to communicate effectively. How to persevere and give your all and when you have nothing left keep going. How to deal with pain and with unreasonable people, how to play on when those around you are loosing their heads, how to address failure and more importantly, how to be a winner. So many lessons and not just an education for the children. I've learned so much and I am so grateful. So, chalk one up for an education in the rain.
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