One
Late last week we had our second annual Lads Team Dinner to kick off the 23-24 season. Different families host team dinners for the Lads throughout the season, but those evenings and meals are just for the boys. This kick off event is for the boys and their families, and is a great way to bring everyone together as a fanbase and support system for the team.
The following morning the Lads headed out of town to play in the Kilt Cup, their first tournament of the year. After getting off to a rocky start - they dropped their first game, against a team they should have beaten, by giving up the go-ahead goal with less than five seconds left - they finished the tournament strong with two wins.
At the end of the final game of the weekend, Will's coach told him it had been his best game ever in a Lads jersey. After a couple of recent missteps, Will (as he explained to me) mentally compiled all of his frustrations, reminded himself of who and what he wanted to be as a player and as a captain, focused on getting into the right headspace, and funneled everything together into 80 minutes of fantastic soccer. #proudmama
Two
This is the third year Will has gone to this tournament, and the third year I've deep cleaned his room in his absence. (I tell him ahead of time that I'll be going through everything, so this isn't an invasion of privacy. He actually welcomes the cleaning and organizational help.) There's always a moment midway through the process when I regret my decision, but when I'm done his room feels like a new (clean, organized) space and he truly appreciates it. Not enough to keep it clean and organized, but whatever...
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| The moment when I regretted my decision. |
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| Popeye LOVES to help. |
To be clear, I don't usually clean the kids' rooms for them. They are responsible for cleaning their rooms every Sunday, and a few times a year I help them tackle their spaces with a little more intensity. They like it when I do my deep clean (it happens probably once every year or two), but also know that if they don't stay on top of cleaning their rooms themselves, when I deep clean I make no promises about what I will keep, toss, relocate, confiscate, etc.
Three
Sadly, I missed Will's best game ever in a Lads jersey. I rarely miss a high school game - it breaks my heart to do so - and if/when I do (this was only the second game I've missed) it's for a good but hard reason. The first time was to take Hallie to her first RDA festival in Midland, and this time was to take Hallie to a summer intensive audition in Fort Worth.
Here's the thing: I missed the game, and I hated to miss the game, but missing the game led to an otherwise magnificent day as a mom. First, I spent more than six hours in the car with Hallie and her three best friends. They were fun and funny and interesting and kind, and more than once I (discreetly) teared up feeling so incredibly grateful for these quirky kiddos, their friendships, and my front (row) seat to watch them take on the world. Second, when I got home at 9:30pm, Will met me at the door and immediately began a conversation about his weekend away, that night's game, and life that lasted for more than an hour. Anyone who has a 17-year-old son knows that conversations of any kind - let alone ones they initiate, are excited to have, and last that long - are few and far between and I LOVED catching up and connecting with him.
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| Popeye was so happy to have Will home. He searched Will's room multiple times a day to see if by any chance Will had arrived home and he just hadn't noticed. |
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| Talking and snuggling. |
Four
Speaking of why I missed the game... On Saturday Hallie participated in her very first summer intensive audition. She was nervous but composed, and while she wasn't thrilled with her "performance," she's proud to have that first audition behind her.
Five
On Tuesday, Tom gifted me the only thing I asked for from him for Christmas: having my car detailed. Getting it back so beautifully and thoroughly cleaned is the absolute best.
Six
Last but certainly not least, on Wednesday Tom and I celebrated 20 years of marriage, 22 years as a couple, and 24.5 years as friends. 20 years is a long time, but it's also not long enough. Here's to 20 more.
Here's one of my favorite anniversary posts from years past, as well as a post about how we met and our journey toward becoming a couple.
Happy weekend, friends!
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