05/29/01 - Maybe it has something to do with the month of May, but I seem to be in "Mom" mode more than usual. Though I give it an honest try, I'm not sure I even know what mom mode is. Sure, I can do the day in day out stuff, it's become more than methodical, not all that inspiring, goes by unnoticed anyway. It's those nonconformist, walk on the wild side moments that make me a little non-mom-ish, and will probably be the most memorable moments for the boys.
Last Friday night I had a night off. It was planned. I had worked graveyard a couple of extra nights to cover for my co-worker's vacation. I hadn't told anyone about the Friday. I guess I thought maybe I could do something spontaneous with it. Maybe I thought there was something special about a Friday night to myself. The only way I would have been able to actually get away with this secret is if I had acted like I was going to work and then go off and do something ... for eight hours. I really didn't have eight hours of anything to do. So, when four o'clock came around and I was still here, I was forced to fess up. "Hey Mom, since you don't have work tonight, will you come to watch me play in the Basketball Tournament? asked The Kid. For emphasis he added, "The Jock is playing too." Wow, sounds like a deal to me, a two birds one stone sort of thing.
There I was driving my 80 Toyota Celica, blue in color, down the main drag on a pleasantly hot Friday night. It reminded me of my days of cruising the El Camino Real, hot time summer in the city, back of my neck feeling dirty and gritty. The Kid's game was first. There didn't appear to be many parents watching. Those that were, I didn't recognize. In fact, I didn't recognize any of the players on The Kid's team, but they seemed to work well together in a quiet sort of way. The game wasn't going too well for The Kid's team. At half time The Kid came up to where I was sitting and said something about feeling tired. I asked him it that's why he was playing so quiet. I mean he'd been talking about this tournament for weeks and he even got me to buy him new Jordan's and it just seemed like he wasn't getting his shoe money's worth. I told The Kid that he might want to lighten up, a little clowning around couldn't hurt. It just seemed to me that you only have once chance at this moment, why hold back? The Kid gave me a smile, a slightly mischievious one at that. The second half went much better. They lost the game by a lot, but The Kid made three 3 pointers. Cool, very cool. The Jock's game was next and different as night from day. There's no fear of holding back by the Jock. He's a clown by nature and athletically inspired as well. The Jock's team was made up of kids that had been playing sports together since seventh grade, all good athletes. They had always been good. In fact, they had won this tournament in two prior years. Another difference was the amount of parents in attendance, and I knew most all of them. I had no desire to schmooze with these parents. I did get a kick out of watching them a bit and appreciated the fact that we were still a very supportive group. I tried very hard to keep past thoughts, experiences I'd had with these people, out of my mind. The Jock's team, the class of 2000 won their game. The Kid rode home with me. He said he'd be playing a couple of more games the next day, they were guaranteed four games. I didn't plan to attend any more games.
I worked graveyard on Sunday night. I was excited that I could come home and go right to bed since it was Memorial Day and no one needed a ride to school. When I awoke, The Kid was waiting to tell me that The Jock's team would be playing in the championship game that night. The tournament was still going on? There's another benefit of working graveyard, you can attend evening events. The game would be at 6 p.m. I'd be back home in time to take my nap before work. The thought did excite me a bit, it being a championship game and all. It was definitely an event ... Loud music, full bleachers, The Jock was really strutting his stuff. All the parents were back again, but this time I didn't even notice. I was there for the show. Out of the blue someone decides we need the National Anthem. We all sort of started out a bit timidly, soon I found myself doing a sort of Faith Hill rendition though the rhythm was taking on a hip-hop flare. When it was all over, we all were smiling. The Anthem is a great ice breaker. On with the game ... Class of 2000 v. Class of 1996. The 2000's got a slow start. Before long, they were down by 20. Then, something kicked in and all hell broke loose. The energy rose and when the half time buzzer went off, the score was tied 67 to 67. In the end, The Jock's team lost 78 - 75. It was a great game though, fantastic. I got home in time to download my pictures from the digital before my nap. I surprised myself ... see that court shot? The ball is in the basket ... Nothing But Net! My Friend is right, just take a bunch of pictures and hope for one good one. Did you notice though ... the posed picture is blurry. Go figure.
So, as I started out saying .. I've participated in a lot of kid stuff this month, violin concerts, graduations, basketball. I'm thinking I'm due for a break from "Mom" mode. Think that's possible? |
