Dramatic Act

Today Keagan was sent home with what the school nurse thought was a concussion. Before school, he was playing a game of football and fell backwards onto a slab of concrete. He was taken to the nurse for an ice pack, and clearly understanding he could milk this head injury thing for all it was worth, claimed he was feeling light headed. Then he mentioned he felt nauseous. A few minutes later he mentioned he fell into a fire hydrant when he lived in Georgia. Then we had what we call the head injury trifecta. And my phone began to ring.

When I mentioned to the school nurse that Keagan could be a little dramatic at times, she was adamant that we had a serious situation and that he needed to be seen by a doctor ASAP. Two hours later, after securing a sub, writing lesson plans for a sub, and making sure my afternoon meetings were covered, I finally made it to the school to pick him up.  A sad faced little boy met me in the office, I listened to the instructions of spending the next ten hours in a dark room with no TV or video games, and I signed him out. And my sad faced little boy proceeded to SKIP to the car and after securing his seat belt he said, "I can't believe this, Mom. I am going home with a football injury."

I knew then that the nurse had been duped. Tricked. Hoodwinked. Whatever you call it, I had been right after all. A very convincing act got him out of school for the day. We left the parking lot, and my Chatty Cathy started a monologue about the bladders of cats and how amazed he is with the bladder capacity of his pet cat.

Because I heard the nurse's warning to avoid bright lights, I drove to Target and took him shopping with me. I made him walk through the homegoods section and look at new bath mats. I made him follow me into the women's section while I searched for a black cardigan. I even made him walk through the lingerie aisles, and he was still just as chipper as could be. He was skipping school, after all.

On the way home my Chatty Cathy started monologue number two on the decline of Toby Keith's singing career. Then we got home and he spent an hour making pillow forts and persuading the cat to be his fortress protector.

 On our way back to the school to pick up Evan, monologue number three on the colors of fall leaves commenced.

The concussion was obviously slowing him down.

I put him to bed tonight, and he said, "Mom, you heard the nurse. A concussion can take days to go away. IF I am not feeling better tomorrow morning, then I think we need to take her advice and spend another twelve hours in a dark room." Recognizing my doubt, he added, "It's for safety reasons, Mom."

Oh, he's good. Real good. But not that good. He will back at school tomorrow, and I will go to bed thanking God he is a great actor and nothing serious came from his fall.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

We played eight soccer games this weekend. EIGHT! If someone had told me ten years ago that I would spend my weekends on random soccer fields across the southeast attending soccer tournaments, I would have laughed. First, ten years ago I knew nothing about soccer and found chasing a ball to the far corners of the field rather dull. Second, I would have never believed you if you had told me I would have boys that played anything but baseball. But here we are. It's funny how Life throws out the unexpected and you find that you wouldn't want it any other way.

This weekend will be remembered as one heck of a weekend for more than one reason.

1. I have never had to pull my dad off the soccer field. Today I did. I've decided that I will invest in a kiddie harness and make my dad wear it at all future games so that I can pull him in when he begins to get out of control with his referee "advice."

2. One of Keagan's games went into overtime. I had three mini-heart attacks as the boys had three shots on goals that missed landing in the net by only centimeters. And then Keagan crossed the ball across the front of the goal to find the perfect shot. And voila! We won in sudden death.

3. I pulled my hamstring and calf muscle almost two years ago while cheering on the sidelines of the soccer field. But today I have some how pulled stomach muscles. All of that screaming did me in - or maybe it was the work-out I experienced dragging my dad off the soccer field that did it. I guess this means that I now must add stomach crunches to my pre-game stretching routine.

4. Evan got in a fight in the middle of a game, and I almost died of embarrassment. The other player, who started the incident, was ejected from the game. Evan got so mad that I thought for sure we were headed down some dark road never to return.

5. We experienced kettle corn for the first time this weekend. Now I must lament the fact that it will be at least four months before our next tournament and thus our next bag of kettle corn.

6. Evan was hit on today. A group of girls were hanging out at an adjacent field, saw Evan walk by, and said rather boldly, "Well, hello! Where have you been all my life?" Evan never heard them and continued on his way completely oblivious.

7. Most importantly, both boys' teams won first place, and because we really know how to celebrate, we took the boys to a fast food joint for chicken dinners.

Tomorrow's laryngitis will totally be worth it!

Punt, Pass, and Kick - Sectionals

In August Evan won the local punt, pass, kick competition on post, and he won a spot to compete in the sectionals competition in October. It just so happens that we also had a soccer tournament that same weekend. We couldn't believe our luck when we learned the two events were both in Kentucky and only minutes apart. We couldn't have planned it to be any more convenient. Evan left his first soccer game, competed in the football event, and then raced back to the soccer fields for game two. 

First up, the punt, and the event he spent the most time / effort working to improve. Even though we know accuracy is a key ingredient in winning, Wes calcuated it was 60 "something" feet. Math has never been his strong suit.

Then it was the pass. We think this was about 70 feet.

Last, it was the kick, and this was more than 90 feet.

He had a total score of more than 200 feet, a score much higher than his first competition. Because we were in such a hurry to get back to the soccer fields, we didn't see how the other boys in his age group did. And now we are just waiting to see if his total score was high enough to qualify for the team level. 

I think he might be just a little bit excited about the prospect of competing at the next level. I found him asleep tonight cuddling his football. 

Game Day

When the fall soccer schedule was released in early August, we were excited to find we had one Saturday free of games. We couldn't believe our luck when we learned it happened to be the same weekend Georgia was playing in town.

After a late night last night, we were up at o'dark thirty this morning ready to drive back to the city for some SEC football. We walked through Vandy's campus on our way to the stadium, and I was immediately transported to the Chi Delt House (aka "The Cave) circa 1995 with the smell of beer permeating the air, the random music, and the yards strewn with beer cans. Students were out partying at ten in the morning as if they had never gone to sleep the night before. Keagan asked what was going on, and Wes tried to explain that they were celebrating Game Day. Keagan said, "Shouldn't they be studying instead of fooling around?"

I will remember this comment; it will serve me well in about ten years.

We arrived just in time to sit in the cold rain and watch the warm up drills. The bad weather didn't bother Evan. He was totally in his element - soaking up both of the schools' traditions and the details of the pre-game prep.

Perhaps the final score was not what we had in mind, and only a skeleton of the team we watched in Georgia last year remained on the field today, but we will definitely be back to Vanderbilt to watch another game. It was way too much fun, even in the rain, to not go back. Anchor down? What in the world does that mean? If nothing else, I must go back to try to solve that puzzle. It's a good excuse, anyway.

Guilty Surprise

Two weeks ago I had fall break, and I spent the week reading, researching and writing a paper for a class I am taking. This week the boys had fall break, and they spent the day at day camp at the Y while I was at work. I was feeling very guilty for not being able to spend the week with them, so I did the next best thing. I found something on our bucket list and made it happen. I bought the four of us tickets to see Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line.

It's true that I paid way too much money. It's true that we sat so high up that I had vertigo and had to sit rigid in my seat for the first half hour before my body could acclimate to the altitude change. It's true that Wes left work at 1430 so that he could take a nap before the concert because 1030 is what 0200 was for us twenty years ago. But boy did we have fun!

We told Keagan that we bought tickets to see Disney on Ice.This was perhaps a fairly cruel thing to do because he has mentioned several times that he really wants to see some big names in country music perform live on stage. He didn't bat an eye or do anything to act the least bit disappointed, though, when I happily announced our big surprise included ice skates and Disney princesses. (Let me remind you that he is the best!) On our way to the show, I eventually told him the truth, and he couldn't believe his good fortune. He shed a joyous tear or two. Relieved it wasn't ice skating or excited it was Luke Bryan? It was probably a bit of both.

First up was Florida Georgia Line. I loved their performance, but I also love their music.

It was so loud. So very loud. After this performance, Evan had had enough. He plugged his ears with his fingers and attempted a nap. A NAP!!! I can't even begin to understand. Even when Luke took the stage, he feigned sleep.

 Keagan, on the other hand, sang every song. He was completely in his element - even as the clock ticked closer to 10:30. He was still talking about it this morning.

Our bucket list now includes a new list of must-sees. I should feel guilty more often.

Music Row

You can't live this close to Nashville and ignore the country music scene. However, if you are a female, you should ignore the popular Nashville trend of wearing short shorts and boots - especially if you are on the big side. Too few heed this advice. I know because on Monday we spent the holiday in the downtown area walking up and down Broadway, and every girl we saw under the age of thirty had on too short shorts and boots. 

On the contrary, while visiting the Country Music Hall of Fame, we didn't see anyone under the age of 65. None of the AARP crowd were wearing short shorts and boots, but every single one of them had headsets for the self-guided tour and walked aimlessly among displays of costumes and guitars clearly taking a walk through memory lane.

I'll admit that the walls were lined with thousands of gold records, and I didn't have a clue who half the people were and I certainly didn't know any of the songs. I even had a tough time explaining to the boys the significance of Hee-Haw, even though I remember watching it on Saturday nights at my grandparents' house.

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I might have been a bit lost in the Hall of Fame, but I totally recognized the significance of the Ryman. We got the typical family photo op and headed to lunch because Keagan is currently on the feeding schedule of an infant and seems to think he should eat every two hours.

It was a beautiful day filled with great family memories, wonderful food, and even better company. I can't thank Columbus enough for our wonderful long weekend.

Classic Winners

Another weekend. Another soccer tournament. Another first place win. This weekend Evan's team played up in the U12 bracket and we still came out on top. 

These boys are so much fun to watch! Just look at their faces full of happiness and joy. I can't imagine Evan playing for another team with any better players or parents.

Keagan's team was oh-so-close. One goal separated our team from the first place winners. I was okay (maybe not okay but better) with the second place win after Wes overheard an opposing team parent refer to Keagan as "The Beast." I guess he earned the title after his hat-trick in game three. It is truly exciting to see how well the offense works together on this team. 

So proud of my soccer champions! Only one more tournament left in the fall season. Whatever will we do without soccer?

The Defense was Pathetic

Wes and I took the boys to a local high school football game on Friday night. We found seats in a section that we later learned was reserved for the middle school football team. This would have been uneventful save the fact that we were surrounded by middle-schoolers. Wes looked at me and asked, "What's wrong with these kids?" I responded, "They have each consumed a half dozen Mountain Dews, another half dozen of Dr. Peppers, an economy sized box of Air Heads, and one hot dog apiece." I was shaking just watching them consume so much sugar, and they of course were in the middle of sugar seizures. Midway through the game I looked at Evan and without uttering a word, he said, "Don't worry, Mom. I will never act that way." I nodded in agreement fully understanding that it will my boy who will pull out apple slices and a handful of grapes as he cheers on his future alma-mater.

At half time we struck up a conversation with the school's AP and AD because a half time show consisting of tiki torches and the flag corp just doesn't do anything for us. We shared some stories and then feeling fully comfortable with the AP who I had now known for a full fifteen minutes, I offered some advice. "You really need to find a new defensive coordinator." He was clearly shocked with my bluntness so I tried to smooth it all over by stating, "Don't feel like you need to rush because you've got three years to get something new in place before my older son reaches your school." He laughed, but I didn't. He then wanted to know how I knew so much about football and I simply stated, "I am from Texas." And then he understood and he told me he had every intention of looking for a new defensive coordinator. I considered my advice my good deed for the weekend.

We got a game of soccer in on Saturday night. Evan's team won 2 to 1 and we had planned to return on Sunday for another round. The rain got in our way, though, and we ended up spending the full day watching football and lounging on the couch. This break was definitely in order; next weekend we are back on the road with six games to play.