Crazy season, great memories

Well, we just wrapped up a dual softball season with my two younger girls both playing travel ball. Whew! What a roller coaster that was! Hubby was head coaching one team while assisting the other and I was in charge of everything else that goes along with two kids playing ball at the same time. Oh wait, and then there was that third daughter, who was playing on a travel basketball team at the same time, because we wouldn't want to have any free time to breathe or anything. Might as well run full speed in sixty different directions all over the state of Nebraska, right?!

I'm actually not sure how the five of us have survived the last 8 weeks of nonstop craziness but here we sit. A few head colds, some sore muscles and a lot more gray hair and wrinkles, on top of some oddball suntan lines but we made it. What a whirlwind it has been with multiple games every week, sometimes outside in the cold and rainy weather one weekend and then 110 degrees and sunny the next, intermingled with hours of bleacher time in various gyms all over God's country. We threw in a bunch of sports camps, bible camp and a thousand practices and lessons during the weekdays just so we didn't take a chance of getting bored or anything.

As a result of all that running, the inside of our vehicles look like a lost and found box that has been sitting outside for several weeks, but smell more like the inside of gym bag. I'm pretty sure I have bugs in the grill of my truck that have been there since April, and our garage looks like a second hand sports shop that has been littered with sunflower seed bags and half drank water bottles strewn all about. The house has survived fairly well, but mainly because our actual time spent there has been minimal. The yard is getting by okay but don't look too close. The dogs have had a field day with my landscaping in the backyard and my flowers were sure a lot healthier before school got out! I think all our neighbors are still around but haven't seen many of them in months. I wonder if they think we've moved?

Anyway, time to hang up the team shirts and uniforms to rest peacefully for another year, throw the dusty cleats in the closet and clean out the overused gym bags. The calendar is emptier than it was a month ago and it's time to take advantage of the downtime. A vacation is next then after that is a garage overhaul, yard work, and maybe buy groceries that will not bought with a tournament in mind.

Say goodbye to the concession stand food and stash away the coolers. Bring on the free evenings and weekends!

it's been a crazy season but oh so much fun! Nothing better than watching my kiddos play a game they love and spend family time together, whether traveling on endless highways, sweating in the hot summer sun or bundled up in blankets. I wouldn't trade the nutty experience for anything and considered myself blessed to be a part of it, despite the new age spots and forehead wrinkles. The memories are worth it!