So not a soccer mom

The most stressful moment in my week is at 6:30 on Tuesdays when we have to sprint from the theatre to my car (in the far parking lot because the one way street makes that the quickest route) so we can speed to soccer practice and ultimately get there 15 minutes late. {we repeat a similar mad dash on Fridays, but usually the games don't start until 7, so we have a little more leeway}. Soccer is at the bottom of our totem pole, it ranks way below theatre and church and 100 other things. I am learning a lot of lessons from this. Aside from the obvious, 'don't sign up for something that is going to rank so low and still stress you out', the other lesson I'm learning is that sometimes it is ok to do things half way (or should I say half-@$$ed?). We are a committed family (some might say over-committed), but I say that not only about our COMMITMENTS but about our LEVEL OF COMMITMENT. We go all out for things that are important to us. Sometimes to a fault. Often to a fault. We are overly committed to doing everything to make the theatre as good as can be, this includes baking and working concessions at every! single! show!, the kids pushing to get to class 45 minutes early (if they are 30 minutes early they feel late), the five of us showing up at the theatre on a Saturday morning to haul paint cans out of the basement, Mike, who is already gone for work an average of 65 hours a week, committing to being on the board of directors, the kids learning all their lines (and everyone else's) within the first few days of a new show, and Jonathan's hours at the theatre some weeks rivaling Mike's work week. This is not to brag, this is to show our commitment to a fault. We treat our church and specifically our commitment to the youth group the same way. If there is an event our kids are there, we are the pushiest fundraisers, and we may even be developing a trouble maker persona over our commitment to the youth group for our kids. This is how we roll. Madi was clubber of the year 3 out of 4 years in Truth and Training in AWANA (and that wasn't even our church or our denomintation). Jonathan's got two plaques in the theatre with his name on them. Madi started two co-ops at the beginning of the year, she is only one of three left standing in each class (two other different kids in each class). We go all out for things that are important to us. I'm used to being one of the more committed families at any event. This is not the case with soccer. I'm learning that it is ok to be 'regular people' sometimes. Let me be sure to point out that Jake's soccer team is full of families with a sense of responsibilty to soccer that is similar to our sense of responsibility to everything else. Everyone on his team knows one another (they might be related, it is a small town), they all sit together and watch every second of every game (and practice). Madi and Jake practice at the same time. I walk around the field during practice, and while I sneak glances to make sure each of them isn't injured or anything, I don't really pay attention. I've never even spoken to Madi's coach, I don't think I could pick him out of a crowd. They often have games at the same time, we sit somewhere in the middle and attempt to watch what we can of each game. We are sort of the theatre equivalent of people I roll my eyes at. I have a sneaking suspicion that people are rolling their eyes at me. That's ok. Soccer is good exercise, more importantly, it is good for my over-achievers to do something where they aren't trying to be the best. It's good for me. So each week after my most stressful rush to the soccer field, I chill out. They play at an amazing facility. It is a beautiful place to walk, the sun is usually just starting to set, it is on a hill surrounded by orange groves, and once I get passed my natural inclination to give it my best, I remember my best has already been given in too many other places, and I relax. So by about 7pm on Tuesdays I ease into one of my most peaceful times in the week.

{Then practice is over and we rush back to the car because we are starving, then our newest rountine is a late Tuesday night dinner at Chili's because Chili's is contributing to our youth group's donations for Relay for Life on Tuesday nights, and we're back to being overly committed}