I Honestly Had Great Intentions

I noticed the leaves are beginning to turn in my neighborhood. I sighed and thought about my journal. How I had great intentions of writing about my Summer. About what I did do and didn't do. And how I failed miserably in the writing department. I guess I need to work on doing better because there are words and thoughts inside of me that are dying to come out, be written, and read, my timing is always off. And when I think to write I am just drifting off to sleep, stuck in traffic, having sex, or cleaning the toilet.


Ugh.


So back to Autumn -- While part of that makes me sad, the idea of Autumn is just my most favorite time of the year. Crisp air, apple cider, cool mornings, no humidity, the start of a new school year, a sense of renewal. And then I am instantly sad because that means Winter is next and I hate hate hate Winter. It's dark, cold, rainy, and wet where I am. No sun for an entire Winter. Makes me incredibly sad, sad, sad. And I really hate managing life through the modern works of chemistry. So I tough it out, try not to make those around me crazy and cranky until Spring.


As I made my way down the school supply isle I smelled the boxes of brand new crayons and saw them all lined up in a row, stacked for awaiting hands to buy them. The folders all neatly stacked, and immediately I spied a "Pee Chee" and I began to laugh and laugh and laugh. Even though I graduated from high school almost 100 years ago I remember clearly what we would do to our "Pee Chee's" the moment we had them in our possession.

We'd deface them.

I can't begin to tell you how many of my teachers would look at my Pee Chee's and either click their teeth in disgust or roll their eyes in exasperation. One of my teachers actually took my Pee Chee and blackened the entire round circle part of the Pee Chee because she was disgusted how I defaced my Pee Chee. And as the school year wore on we'd get more and more brazen with each Pee Chee. You see you weren't allowed to write anything obscene upon the Pee Chee in letters or words but that didn't mean we couldn't get creative.

And creative we were.


This is my first year being a soccer parent. God help me. You see I am not twenty-four or twenty-five or even in my thirties. I started this whole parenting adventure late in life and I am pushing fifty. Instead of having a child graduate this year, I have a child in grade school who is embarking upon his first year of soccer. And this old lady is not terribly tolerant of psycho parents who yell and scream at the referee, the other parents, the other kids, or their own children. I asked one of my good friends who is a teacher and a coach to give me the run down on the do's and don'ts of being a good soccer parent.

Be on time for everything he told me. And I nodded.



If you are attending a game as a parent, be a parent, don't be the ref, or the coach.

Keep your mouth shut.

I blinked.
"Did you hear me? I said, Keep your mouth shut."

"That's an impossibility" I stated aloud shaking my head.


Oh no my friend said "You are really going to have to work hard on keeping your mouth shut."



"But what if someone is being mean to my child, or my child gets hurt on the field?"


By now I am making wild arm and hand gestures and wishing we hadn't embarked on this crazy soccer journey.


Sensing my near hysteria my friend patted me on the back and said "Now if your child is hurt or someone is being mean then of course do what you need to do to care for your child but really you can't be giving the coach a hard time or the referee if you don't agree with something. You know how you are."


I sighed -- and he was right. I really need to keep my mouth shut.


I mean it -- really.


What else is going on in my life -- Oh yes, I have pen pals. I am attempting to resurrect the lost art of letter writing. Because I am such a procrastinator we'll see how that pans out.


So far I have two really great pen pals from Italy. And another from England.


I hope you aren't holding your breath about this because I'm not.