(43-81) Opening Day

We began our opening day of soccer season at 6am; and were on the soccer field by 7.  We got the field set up, and our team arrived by 730.  It seemed that the opposing team was going to have to forfeit because they only had 3 players; but the referee agreed to wait an additional 10 minutes.  The ref also agreed that if the team had to forfeit, we could lend them a few players and at least have a scrimmage.  By the end of the ten minutes; 2 more players arrived; so we agreed to play just 5 on 5 instead of the usual 7 on 7.

The Torpedos looked terrific in their Turquoise jerseys; and within the first couple of minutes; they'd scored 3 goals; and a win seemed well within reach.  Kelsie amazed me, when she took to the field.  She really came to play.  What a difference from the player that she was last year.  The families were all fired up; and cheered enthusiastically.  And then, just as I expected; someone yelled "Go Tornados;" and thankfully, it WASN'T me.  I politely corrected him; and we all encouraged the Torpedos; who, by half time, were winning 7 to 0.

We had a team of 10 today, so playing 5 on 5 allowed us 5 substitutes, while the other team had none. Luis felt that there was no need to have a shutout; when the kids were supposed to be there to have a good time; so he decided to put some of his newer, less skilled, players in defender positions; so that the other team would have an opportunity to score.  Is it any wonder that I love this man?

The Fireballs scored 3 goals; and the game concluded with The Torpedos winning 9-3.  I commented to my friend, Jenny; that "winning feels so much better than losing;" but honestly, I didn't mean that in a rude way; I was speaking from experience.  Sara, (another Torpedos mom;) heard me, laughed; and asked if that was going to be the title of tonight's blog.  Sara then told me that last night's title "Sometimes Size DOES Matter;" really made her chuckle.  With that I pulled out my bag of gargantuan, grapes from my cooler.  I told her that I didn't think that my pictures had done the grapes justice and after laying her eyes on them, Sara fully agreed.  I think it was Sara's husband, Tim; who suggested that I should have taken a picture of one of the grapes next to a quarter.  I thought that was an incredible, idea and I was very disappointed that I hadn't thought of it last night.
All that viewed the grapes, were shocked by their size; and after tasting them, everyone agreed that they were the sweetest grapes that they'd ever tasted.  When we got home, I asked Luis to take a picture of one of the grapes and a quarter; but he wouldn't.  His exhaustion won out over his desire to cater to my obsession and so I had to settle for just mentioning the grapes again, in order to convey their actual size.

OK, enough about the grapes.  After the Torpedos victory, we went to watch Lyndzi and her team, TNT.  Lyndzi played goalie for the first half.  She had one perfect play and another that wasn't quite as successful, but both times; she gave it her all.

By the start of the second half, my friend Tina had joined us; TNT was winning and Lyndzi played forward.  Now Lyndzi is not a runner and Luis often comments that Lyndzi has been walking since she was 10 months old, but she still hasn't grasped the concept of running.  Just the other day during practice, one of the mom's had told me that she thought Lyndzi was a very good goalie; and I thanked her and said that it was a good position for her, because she didn't really know how to run.  I likened her lack of running ability to what it might look like if the Snuffaluffagus was running; so imagine our surprise as we watched Lyndzi dribble the ball down the field all by herself.  No one tried to intercept her at all; until she neared the goal.  We had been sitting on the edge of our seats watching the complete, control that Lyndzi had over the ball and felt so bad for her as she was stopped short, before getting the opportunity to shoot for the goal.  Lyndzi was clearly disappointed and in the cheeriest of voices; we heard our Little Mary Sunshine, shout "Darn it!  I think that she was probably just frustrated with herself; but our sweet girl, took it all in stride.  TNT won anyway; and we were able to take a lunch break until noon; when Nicky's team would warm up.

At 1230, Nicky and his team, Little United; were ready to play their game, and they took a very early lead.  This is a new team for Nicky and he's been really trying to prove himself.  He worked hard, and did all that was asked of him; so in the last ten minutes of the game, the coach subbed him in as a goalie.  I was nervous about Nicky giving goalie a try because he hadn't attempted it in 4 years.  I think I was holding my breath, as I waited for the other team to take a shot at the goal; but Nicky rose to the occasion, dove for the ball as it was called for; and kicked the ball out out of the goal in an admirable way.

Little United played so well today, that I lost track of how many goals they'd scored.  Their win was our third of the day; and our whole family was very satisfied; but worn out.
We drove home and the kids dragged themselves out of our minivan, with barely enough energy to take a shower.

I immediately, took my extremely, sunburned self into the shower; because I had to get ready to go to scrapbooking.  I packed up a minimal amount of stuff; and my laptop, since I was going to have to write my blog at the crop; and that's exactly what I've been doing for the past 5 hours.  Yes, I said 5 hours.  Which I think proves 2 things.  1.  That I am truly dedicated to this pursuit AND 2.  That I absolutely, cannot blog efficiently with a lot of people around.  OK, In my defense of the 5 hour timeframe, I'll concede that  I've taken a dinner break, and actually went with Mari and our friend Brooke, to pick up dinner; AND I've been distracted by conversation; and other things that I'll tell you about tomorrow; but nonetheless, 5 hours have elapsed since I started this blog and for better or worse; I REALLY need to conclude. So, barring anything unforeseen, or ridiculous occuring on Sunday; you can expect me to fill you in on this fantastic crop then.
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING