Last weekend, my son found out that he made the varsity soccer team for his school. I’ve written before about both his love for the sport and the joy I find in watching him so I’ll keep this short and say that making varsity has been something he has wanted for years and the goal, so far, in his life that he’s worked the hardest to achieve.
He learned after not even making the JV team his freshman year that hope isn’t a strategy when it comes to making the varsity roster, especially for a kid who started high school a little undersized (he’s young for his grade and the puberty fairy doesn’t visit every house on the same schedule).
And so he decided to put in the work.
He started a lot of days with early hours in the weight room, got more serious about running and stretching, and occasionally drove his father crazy doing drills in the backyard that led to a broken window and much abuse of our rain gutters as he sent balls flying against the walls of the house and garage. I probably put at least a thousand miles on my car driving him to club practices and tournaments this past year and definitely way more than a thousand dollars into club fees, uniforms, and travel.
It was a lot but this weekend I got to bear witness to my kid’s biggest dream coming true and I feel pretty damn lucky to have been there.
The high school soccer season in Minnesota is really short. They start games before the school year even begins and pretty much have the season wrapped up by the end of October (#winteriscoming). It’s hard to say how the season will go — my son’s school is not really known as a powerhouse in terms of sports (except for their Nordic skiing and cross country teams) but the soccer team is usually fairly competitive in their conference. My son is, at this point, unlikely to start any games and he didn’t end up coming off the bench in their first game of the season - a tough but probably good reminder that the work doesn’t stop once the dream has come true. He’s going to have to work hard all season to get playing time. Yesterday, during their second game (a solid 5-1 victory) I got to watch him come off the bench and get some minutes at the end of the game and somehow managed to not embarrass both of us by crying or whooping too loudly.
It’s a funny thing, how something that looks so ordinary for anyone who might be walking by (he’s just another kid stepping on to a soccer field) is actually this big emotional moment, the culmination of years of work and lots of disappointments along the way.
After the game he gave me a quick, sweaty hug before catching a ride with one of his teammates so they could all go to the lake for some team bonding, most of the players driving themselves. We’ve come along way from orange slices from a cooler and maybe stopping on the way home for an ice cream con. I’m so grateful for all of it, for how he’s found parts of himself on every pitch he’s played on, for how I’ve gotten to see him become ever more himself.
I just wish it wasn’t going quite so fast.
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And, now, a few things I was into this week:
My friend Kathleen, who is an excellent poet and also very, very funny, has started a Substack! Yay! Find her here.
Loving all the Tim Walz themed crop art at the Minnesota State Fair this year
I like this tank top from Target a lot because it is cute on it’s own but will also work for layering under cardigans in the fall. It’s currently on clearance for $8.50!
This is like a real estate mullet: business on the outside, party on the inside. I had a moment where I thought “I bet the owners would be fun to hang out with for a night” and then realized that I would end up drunker than I’ve ever been in my life if that happened.
True crime isn’t my thing so this look at what happens at CrimeCon is interesting but also kind of depressing? I’m fascinated that the guest speakers (mostly relatives of people either murdered or of murders) don’t get paid. Someone is making a lot of money off of the blurry space where murder becomes entertainment.
Season five of the RHOSLC is coming and I am READY.
I want to know if they actually want to sell it or if they simply decided more people should be able to see their house. Also “drunker than I have ever been in my life” is exactly what would happen and is perfection in writing.
Their real estate agent: ok, we should take down some personal stuff and repaint in neutrals.
Them: bet