The night I became a soccer mom

Last night Steve was working and Olivia had her second soccer game of the season.  This is her first soccer season where I feel like she is actually playing soccer.  As in they are playing on a full size field, have refs, full length quarters, follow actual rules and keep score.  (Up until now it's basically been semi-organized chaos that sometimes involves kicking a ball, but usually not.)

We've had practices for a few weeks now.  I'll be honest, the practices did not leave me with a lot of hope for my daughter's future in soccer.  Too many bugs.  Too hot.  Too much running.  Headache.  Cramp in the side.  Coach yelling.  Liking to be goalie because there's not much running.  Stuff like that.

Until last night.  It happened.  My daughter became a machine.  She scored the first goal of the game.  And it wasn't on accident.  It was because she dribbled it down the field.  She was aggressive and unafraid.  By the end of the game she was a sweat ball.  Her face was beet red because she ran her guts out.  She wasn't afraid to go after the biggest  most aggressive kid on the other team.  She saw openings and played them.  She talked with her teammates about strategy.  I was like, "What the???"  I know everyone thinks their kid is amazing.  Mine actually was!  And she looked like a dang college student out there.  I couldn't believe my eyes.

Something snapped in me too.  I was hooting and hollering and yelling things like, "Go, Red!"  And "Alright, Juan, turn it around now."  Even, "Take it to the goal, Esteban."  Seriously, before last night I didn't even know you were suppose to "take it to the goal." 

I actually said out loud- to nobody- "This is so much FUN."  All the while, my two boys were off playing with sticks in a sketchy wooded area near a running river and I didn't even worry about it.  I was focused on the game.  I used to judge parents who just focused on their kids' sporting events while the little ones hot wired cars in the parking lot and ran wild through the woods with sharp sticks.  (For real, I need to keep a list of the *I'll nevers* that I've broken in the past 7+ years.)  Now all I can say is, "Turn it around, Juan!"

I was super sad that Steve was working and missed his daughter's first goal.  But something tells me there will be a *few more* sporting events in our future.