Smiling In Langley

Having a child on a high school sports team is hard on one's nervous system. Holy cow.

When I walked into Walnut Grove, they were on their second game and he was on the bench. Exactly where I like him to be. He motioned to me that he wanted water, so I wandered the hallways of this mega school (by Fundy standards) looking for a vending machine.

By the time I got back to "Gym B", he was on the court. Playing. My entire body tensed up.

And then he served. Each one of his serves barely skimmed over the net psyching out the other team and his mom. I could not handle the tension so I looked at the wall that separates the two halves of the monstrous gymnasium. And he kept on serving. One serve after another. For many minutes.

And then the game was over. And he was all smiles. And I finally took a breath.

I joined the other parents on the bleachers for the third game and listened to some of the dads assure me that this boy of mine has a great serve. I could barely sit still.

Then the third game started. And he was playing. And when the ball came to him he got it up or over. My stomach was in knots and I could barely converse with those around me. He got a chance to serve and again with his barely-clearing-the-net move he deaked out the other team's back row guys to chalk up a lotta points for us.

I relaxed a little when I saw him smiling. Really smiling. With his whole face. I might have smiled too.

And a few minutes later, when it was his turn to serve for the second time that game, he did so with a measure of confidence and joy. He was having fun for the first time since the season started and he knew he could keep serving til they won.

We won the game and his team mates made him feel like a hero. His coach congratulated him on his consistent serves and the parents who were watching were very supportive of his contributions to the team.

But the part that I think made him feel like a million bucks?
He had borrowed one of Clint's funky hoodies.
While he was on the bench, we wore it over his uni. And when he was playing, his team mates took turns wearing it - like it was magical.

It was nice driving home with a happy camper.

I dropped him off, then went to see a brand new doctor for an Active Release Technique treatment on my hip.
(Not my hip at all, it turns out. It's the nerves and muscles that connect my leg to my hip to my groin.)
It felt so good to have a doctor put his finger right on the sore spot and know that it has been inconvienent for me to have an owie there. He did some stretching and pulling and twisting and before I knew it, it was time to go home and watch The Office to see if Jim and Pam would still be cute as stink.

And they were.

Big sigh.

Fresh, young, mutual, mature love is so awesome to witness.
I smiled for most of that hour.

Then I called my dad to see how his day had been.
He was in a good mood and had lots to say.
He'd spent the day planning his funeral and was full of ideas.
Oy.
I must've inherited my event-planning gene from him.


Three things I'm thankful for:
1. I'm sleeping in tomorrow. Well, I have to take the kids to school, but then I'm going right back to bed. For a long time.
2. The trees around here? Wow. Just wow.
3. Saw a rainbow this afternoon.


Shalom,