Soccer

Spring is full of soccer around here. Practices and games and more practices. The boys love it. And I love watching them. It reminds me of my childhood. Saturdays at the powerline fields. Alison in the goal. Me at defense. That nervous excitement making its way from my stomach to my legs. Waiting for the ball to hit the field, to get my foot on it. Playing our rivals, the Cloudbursts. They played dirty, jabbing elbows, tripping, and dirty looks. Lots of them. Girls are good like that, in the worst way. I wouldn't resort to the dirty play, but I could throw looks with the best of them. And I did. Sometimes we won. Sometimes we lost. I'd like to say I didn't care. But I did. And my boys do too. And I think it's ok, that competitive nature. It's good to learn how to win and good to learn how to lose. And soccer is a great teacher.