Most of this post is about softball and summer activities but first I want to say something. My laptop is jacked. For real, y’all. I thought at first it was my Internet but then realized, nope, it’s that magical foldable piece of….um, electronic device. So, the tables of numbers and such won’t be up until next week. Sorry. Now on to a post that I can write on my phone.
I know I’ve mentioned before that my girls are playing softball. I played several sports growing up and softball was my favorite so coaching their teams seemed like the natural thing to do. I’ve coached them before in various sports but never both of them at once. It’s been real. Real what, you ask? Sometimes, real fun. Sometimes, real rewarding. Sometimes, real exhausting and high blood pressure inducing. Also, I may have thrown my glove once (ok, twice) I’m not proud of that but, I did it. I’m extremely competitive and sometimes that’s a bad thing.
Coaching two teams At once means a couple of things.
1. There are two games a week per team.
2. There are 25 girls from the age of 7 to 13. They are all so awesome and totally worth it but that’s a lotta ‘lil girls, y’all!
3. I’m tired and at times their attitudes are totally more intimidating than my attitude.
4. If the girls do especially well (I don’t mean win, I mean play hard and do their best) I buy them drinks after the game. It’s $.50 a child.
5. We don’t get home most nights until almost 10:00 and my husband and I work 30-45 minutes (depending on traffic) from the town we live in so, as soon as we leave work we are running. He gets off of work at 4:30 and I get off at 5:00. Some games start at 5:30. Our town has 3 sets of fields that are all across town from each other and their games are sometimes at seperate fields. *If you live near me and I cut you off on the interstate or you see me flying down the road looking like Cruella DeVil (you know the look!) I’m so very sorry.*
This has impacted our budget a bit. My parents are awesome and are my base coaches and dugout help and they buy drinks sometimes too. Also, several of the girls’ parents have pitched in on drinks so, I’ve only had to do it a handful of times and I take it out of our grocery budget. Gas from all the road running has been costly, too.
My eldest daughters’ team played their final game last week. My youngest daughters’ team has two games left. We will have parties for both and I’m trying to figure out how to put out as little money as possible. I can have the parents chip in a little but I’m not sure how much. I’m thinking for my 11-13 year olds we can do a parents vs. girls softball game and that would keep the cost low. It’s common here for the younger kids to have a party at a pizza place but that could get expensive.
All that complaining aside, I really love it. Here’s one example.
I was explaining to one of my seven year olds how to do something and the whole time I’m talking she’s smiling and nodding. When I finished I said “Ok, did that make sense, do you have any questions?” She shook her head no, smiled, and said “Coach, I really like your earrings!” that sweet child never heard a word I said because she was so distracted by my earrings.
I’ve spent the past three months with all “my girls” and I’ll really miss them when it’s over but I’d be lying if I said that I’m not ready for a break.
So, how are y’all spending the summer with your kids or grandkids? Anyone have ideas about keeping my softball costs down? Any suggestions are appreciated!
P.S- I’m so sorry if this isn’t an easy read, posting from my phone is frustrating!
