SportsBall!

Sunday, January 21, 2024

I went to see two of my 5th grade friends play basketball today. They are on the same team, so that is handy. I really, really enjoyed myself. People kept thanking me for coming – which is very nice – but not really necessary when I am doing something fun.

I was very impressed with the team, and of course my friends the most. They looked so basketball player-y – guarding and running and shooting. I watched two games and there were lots of good moments, but the very best was at the half time buzzer Mollie had the ball and took a full court shot. It didn’t …quite… get to the basket and it was the cutest thing in all of sports ever.

Both the girls were fierce and determined. I could tell that they had practiced their skills and they worked well within their team. It made me feel really good to see kids out there working while playing.

They played three games today – first at 8am, then 12:30, then 2:30. I didn’t go to the first game, because I was still asleep. They play a mini-tournament like this every weekend. My friends’ parents (also my friends) hang out at the gym-du-weekend all day one day each weekend. Not being a parent of sports, I certainly never did that. I took Benjamin to fencing and to juggling, and often didn’t come home while practice was happening, because it didn’t make sense to drive 30-40 minutes home then back for a three-hour practice. The time he was sporting was my “forced waiting” time.

I love forced waiting. I don’t have any responsibilities during the entire time. I did a lot of journaling in scrapbooks, and some reading during those times. Oh, how I loved it. I certainly could have done that at home, but when you are home there is always something else to do – cook, clean, think about cooking, think about cleaning, you know. I wondered if my boys had been team sport-ers, if I would have gone and watched, or if I would have dropped them off with lunch money and come back 8 hours later. I called Benjamin and asked him if he had team sported if he thought I would have been there watching. He said, “No. Why would you be there? Is it the championship? If it is the championship, then you’d be there.” I said no, it was a weekend. “Why would you be at my thing? It’s my thing. Of course, realistically, I would not be at a team sport thing without you, because safety. But if we are pretending I was there and it was my thing, you would not be there. I would tell you about it when I got home.”
I hypothesized, “Like, ‘we won. It was good. Jack stepped on Scott and Scott elbowed Jack in the eye. He’s not in the hospital anymore’.” “YES! Exactly like that – thank you for using names appropriate to 5th grade.”
Of course.

So, I love that my parent friends go and watch (the siblings were there, too. Good job, siblings). There were snacks. It was fun to watch. You are out of your house in the cold of winter. But every weekend? That is amazing. Good job, everyone!

PS Keith went to urgent care and got steroids, cough medicine, and albuterol for bronchitis because he really started wheezing last night. Yay not having pneumonia!