Sometimes life is full of rainbows and bad cotton candy

I had to drag Caroline out of bed yesterday morning and when I finally got her in the kitchen she informed me she was too tired to go to school. And I knew just how she felt because I would have loved nothing more than for us to get back under the covers and spend the entire day in our pajamas. However, I know her well enough to know that the tiredness would wear off eventually and she’d begin demanding things like food and forms of entertainment more involved than watching Phineas and Ferb. So I drove her to school.

The weekend was exhausting. P was hunting and I discovered that being the head soccer coach is much harder than it looks. There are just so many times that you can yell “THAT’S NOT OUR GOAL! KICK IT THE OTHER DIRECTION! KICK IT THE OTHER WAY!” before you’re ready to pop a Valium and call it a game.

Normally P handles most of the coaching responsibilities and I serve as what I have come to believe is a crucial element of the game, the sideline hostess. I open Gatorades, hand out snack items, take out earrings that have come loose, and fix ponytails. Occasionally I’ll pipe up with a rousing “Come on Rainbows! Follow the ball! Get the ball!” but then I go back to sorting grapes in preparation for half time.

But this week I was on my own. I recruited Bops to serve as sideline hostess but he’s not one to sit around and serve Gatorade while there is any type of competitive sport being played, although in terms of this game I’m using the words “competitive” and “sport” very loosely, so he helped me yell out helpful strategies from the sidelines such as “YOU HAVE TO KICK THE BALL!”

We only had five players which left us with just one substitute. By the second half the girls were all exhausted. One of them begin complaining that her leg hurt so I pulled her out. Then about that time Caroline fell and scraped her knee. Both of them were on the sidelines and neither wanted to go in so I launched into a passionate lecture about MENTAL TOUGHNESS while they searched the cooler for any remaining bottles of blue Gatorade.

When the game mercifully ended, I gathered the team around to give them a little inspirational pep talk and let them know how much I appreciated their efforts. I was halfway through my impassioned speech when one of the little girls looked at me and asked, “Where’s that guy that’s usually here?”

I think it’s safe to say that P and I made a lasting impression on the mighty Rainbows.

On the way home I drove through a Mexican restaurant (I didn’t actually drive through a restaurant although I would have been totally capable of it at that moment. To clarify, I went to a Mexican restaurant with a drive-through) and ordered some self-medication in the form of two breakfast tacos with beans, egg and bacon and extra green chile sauce. If you haven’t ever tried that combination then I feel bad for you. I first discovered it at La Popular (emphasis on lar) Bakery in Pearsall, Texas back in 1996 and my life has never been the same. Colors are brighter.

Caroline and I spent the next two hours lying on the couch until it was time for Jackson and Will to show up. Gulley and her husband had to drive to Dallas and back for a funeral on Saturday and since you never hear anyone say, “You know what’s a great time? A ten hour roundtrip road trip with two kids to attend a funeral!” I offered to keep the boys. They spent the morning with some other friends since they had soccer and football games, but came to my house around lunchtime.

I talked to Gulley a little after lunch and informed her that everyone was pretty tired. I believe my exact words where “I’m not sure if Caroline and Brother (Will) are going to be loving or hating today”. Because that’s what those two do. They are either in love or uninviting each other to their birthday parties. There’s no in between which is why we will forbid them from ever dating because the drama would kill us all.

But we made it through the day with only a fair amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Late in the afternoon I told them we could go out to eat for dinner. When we arrived at the restaurant I told them we could sit outside. Will asked me if he could please sit at a table by himself and since we were the only ones there enjoying a 5:15 dinner on a Saturday night, I told him he was welcome to sit by himself.

So he did.

Will is his own person and every now and then he likes to be a loner. A rebel. A renegade on the loose with his orange Fanta.

Meanwhile, Jackson and Caroline were eating their dinner and contemplating the merits of an EZ’s milkshake for dessert vs. candy from the video store.

Sidenote: Caroline’s necklace is an original Caroline design made exclusively with the finest plastic beads that Target has to offer.

Ultimately, they all decided on candy from the video store. Will and Caroline insisted that they wanted that compressed synthetic cotton candy in a foil bag, but young Jackson chose wisely and picked Sweet Tarts. Once we arrived back at the house I got them all bathed and in their pjs, then they piled up in my bed with their cavities in a bag.

After a few minutes Will and Caroline regretted their cotton candy purchase (just like I warned them they would) and wanted to horn in on Jackson’s Sweet Tarts. I told them that Jackson made the better choice and they needed to live with their decision.

So I guess the theme for the day was MENTAL TOUGHNESS.

And I also may have slipped them each a few Gummie Sours LifeSavers because when it comes to choosing the wrong candy, mental toughness can be overrated.

Make sure to read Kelly’s post from today about their first visit to a Compassion Project in El Salvador. And don’t miss Keely’s amazing photos. If you don’t hear from me tomorrow it just means I’m on my way to El Salvador to see about adopting one of those beautiful faces.

22 comments. Leave yours →