Musings of a Soccer Mom

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Everyone who knows us, knows what a big deal sports are in this house.  My husband works in the world of professional athletics and it's all trickle down from there.  About six years ago, professional athletics and homeschooling converged in a strange way. To make a long story a bit shorter, Bobby Convey, a sixteen-year-old professional soccer player, became a member of our family.  He lived and learned and loved with us. He was my introduction to high school at home and my introduction to "mothering" a gifted athlete.

Now, I have a gifted teenaged athlete who looks a bit more like me and is pursuing his education at home in much the same way Bobby did (that is, between tournaments and training sessions and marathon eating and sleeping binges). And Bobby has moved to England to play in the Premier League.  But time will stop here in the heart of my home in the next few weeks.  And the television will be on at odd hours as we watch the boy we love--now a man--play for the United States National Team in the World Cup in Germany.

Our weekly copy of Sports Illustrated arrived yesterday.  Bobby is on the cover. And there's a darling picture of him inside (I'm allowed to gush a bit; he's "my" boy).Looking at his face, I remembered all the tired phone calls, all the discouraging, lonely times his first year in England, all the tearful growing pains of the last six years. And my eyes filled with tears (I'm allowed to cry whenever I want; I'm pregnant). My boys, on the other hand, are absolutely gleeful and have not put the magazine down since it arrived--it moves from one of them to another.  The cover of SI is every athlete's dream (well, except for that curse myth). And this cover boy is so real to them.  They know his favorite meal, his bad habits (we won't tell;-), his penchant for order and cleanliness.  They know him; they love him; and they are so proud of him.

Godspeed, big guy.  Do well.  It is a dream come true.

Kindred Spirits

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I was just blessed with two days of cherished friendship.  My best friend from college came to visit.  Her husband had a business trip a few hours away and he and my husband jumped through some big traveling hoops to make it possible for Jan to spend the time at my house.

We talked and talked and talked. There was some looking back, way back, to our days together at the University of Virginia.  We remembered learning to write a unit study and not learning to manage a classroom.  We talked about the twaddle we sat through and we appreciated the teachers who really did inspire us.  She's now a teacher and an administrator a small classical school.  (Hey, me too ;-).  Funny how we both discovered Latin at the same time, far, far from the grounds of that school which supposedly embodies the Thomas Jefferson Education. We giggled with my children about a ridiculous four credit course entirely devoted to rubber cement and exacto knives.  We cleaned out my learning room and pored over books and started planning yet another unit. I showed her the world of lapbooks (and we laughed some more about proficiency in cutting and pasting). We traded ideas and solved each other's problems.

But it wasn't all "professional."  My husband marveled at how we could pick up right where we left off fifteen years ago, sharing stories and hearts and souls.  We had long talks that left me feeling full.  This time, though, there were new dimensions. We were able to look back with some perspective on mistakes made and lessons learned.  And we were able to look ahead with considerably more confidence than either of us had when we were 19.

Finally, there was the dimension the men in our lives brought to our friendship. Jan knew Mike when we were in college.  She oohed and ahhed over my engagement ring and helped me plan my wedding.  But I never knew her husband, except through letters and cards and phone calls.  On her final night at my house, he came to stay. He's perfect for her and I so enjoyed getting to know him.  The four of us stayed up talking way too late and I thought with a little pang how it just seemed like we'd all been great friends forever--and then how far away they really live.

Still, I sit here tonight amazed by God's provision.  After what has easily been the loneliest time of my life, He brought my husband and hers together to make it possible for us all to truly fill up on friendship.  Amazing.  Really.