Monday, August 4, 2014

I'm A What??!

It's official.  I'm a soccer mom.  I've got the minivan.  The extra 30 lbs.(okay, maybe 40).  The unattractive tan lines.  Yup.  That's me.  Honestly,  I did not think this would be happening so soon.  I thought I had a few more years, you know?  I mean, the kid trips just walking across the living room!  He can't kick and run with a ball.  At the same time!!!  Are you kidding me? 

Well, I was half wrong.  It turns out, he's not half bad as the whole kicking the ball around.   It was just an intro class, drills and stuff.  No games, no practices.  It was actually pretty intense for an intro course for a bunch of kids who can't even wipe their own asses.  But W definitely benefited from it. It's a taste of the many years of team sports he will be forced to participate it.  Lol!  Yes, that's right. We're going to MAKE our kids play.  Why?  Because the world of sports is like that of the sea.  You could have a giant fish tank in your house but it doesn't come close to that mysteriously vast ocean.  There's no way you will ever experience all the emotions and trials that you would while being part of a sports team.  I've never played.  Like ever.  I hated P.E. with a passion.  Nothing could keep me up at night like the dread of having to run that weekly mile in P.E.  Oh, the dread.  

But I missed out.  Big time.  Not that I would admit it at the time.  Being married to a sports-loving man, I've learned to appreciate and understand it on some level.  (Except football.  I can honestly say that it is an acquired taste and much like beer, I just can't.)  Boys, you'll thank us one day.  Don't miss out.  Not on all the camaraderie.  The payoff of practice and hard work. The anxiety and thrill of competing.  Losing and even more importantly, winning.   And much like food, it's universally appreciated.  There are so many invaluable lessons to be learned through playing sports!  Not to mention, it gets you off your ass!  Something kids don't do enough of these days.

W did pretty good in the intro class, minus one awful, tantrum-filled afternoon.  It was blazing hot almost every time and it doesn't help that there is a gigantic new playground 50 feet away.  Oh, and he absolutely will not do the stretches.  Have no clue what that's about.  I thought he just didn't want to get dirty but he won't even do the standing ones, so…whatever.  Picking battles left and right, know what I'm saying?  He's joined a league since, with practices and weekly games.  Pictures to come.  He's the most adorable little soccer player, if I do say so myself.  This is really good for him.  It's good for the whole family.  We've all decided to move more.

I will sit in that hot sun and watch all your games, juice boxes at the ready.  I will join that army of Korean ahjumas and start a collection of pastel visors.  I will lose my voice from cheering at every game. You and your teammates will consume more victory pizza than a college freshman.  And I will become a stain cleaning master.   I will hold you, win or lose.  I am a soccer mom now.  Bring it.

W, refusing to stretch.  

Working those little legs.

Looks so grown up here.
I think he's having fun, right?
His first huddle.