it begins again

Every year it's the same. At the end of the soccer season, completely depleted of all of our reserve energies, we consider not participating the following year. Then, in the late July, when we've been home all summer and we sometimes even lose track of what day of the week it is, the soccer enrollment forms arrive in the mail. Feeling quite ready to tackle the world with our public educators' summer schedule, we readily fill out all the blanks, write out the check, and send in the forms.

And then, mid-August hits and reality returns. Not only is it sweltering outside, but we've also returned to work and are wondering if it was the extra sleep or too many hours of being together with our children or just plan insanity that caused us to fill out the forms, give away our hard-earned money, and sign ourselves up for the torturous schedule that includes soccer practice and games two times a week (times two) in the hottest season of the entire year.

Sometimes, I take great pride in my self-given label "slacker mom" because we do work hard at providing space to just be, to play with toys at home, to lay on the couch and watch a little mindless television (or more likely, PBS or Animal Planet--yesterday afternoon we thoroughly enjoyed placing bets on which contestant would win the Ugliest Dog competition). We aren't the kind of parents who need their kids enrolled in the current "it" activity.

But sometimes, that mother-guilt sneaks in and wins the battle. Ben wasn't any too thrilled with our having signed him up for soccer while he was away with the grandparents. He let us know in no uncertain terms that he didn't want to play. But, my need to be an un-slacker mom won out, and I set an ultimatum. Either play soccer or you'll need to choose something else. Karate lessons, I suggested. Apparently, doing something like karate was even less interesting than trying soccer again. So now, he's all about the soccer thing.

With "tryouts" staring Will in the face Saturday morning, we spent a few minutes Friday night in the backyard reviewing some skills. They did have a great time. Ben has discovered that he loves playing goalie. Will has discovered that he's a pretty good dribbler, better than he remembered at least.

So, we'll start next week. The hilarity of it all is that we used to live in walking distance to the fields. This year, from the new house, we will add an additional 40 minutes round-trip to an already-crazy practice and game schedule. But it will be worth it. The boys will treasure their trophies at the end of the season, and not only will I get great practice with the long lens on my camera, but we'll also all have a lot of fun (and maybe sweat off a few pounds in the process) .