June, the short version

June, where did you go???

We were on the go, go, go and I'm still in the blur of unpack, pack, rinse and repeat. It's all volleyball, all the time here, with a short chicken interlude to liven things up.

First the volleyball. Milwaukee, Racine, Chicago, Milwaukee, Ft. Lauderdale, with Michigan City, Indiana tomorrow and Chicago Saturday. Daughter has been representing. Three firsts, three seconds, and lots of great competition and experience. And oh, how vindicating to beat her old club, the one that rejected her, told her she was average, said she made a huge mistake leaving them. What revenge to beat their best teams at every turn. Who's sorry now?

I was getting panicky, though, about college recruiting, the dozen spots left on college sand teams, and the many dozens of girls trying to secure a spot. Some of those girls are fierce, and I was worried, petrified that my girl's dream might die on the vine, out hustled by girls with better training or better connections, better something. It felt like we had to win the lotto, the odds didn't look good. She had been talking to coaches, but nothing looked like a sure thing. We spent a lot of time hoping.

We went to Florida last week for a recruiting showcase, with ten colleges in attendance and then a tournament with a new partner, more coaches watching. We were both so nervous about the competition that we started emailing coaches with no athletic scholarships just to have some options for her to be on a sand team. She doesn't care what school she goes to, or what she studies, as long it's warmer than here and as she has a spot on the sand volleyball team.  A really short list.

Sand Recruits Pompano Beach

One of the coaches emailed her and asked her to call when we got home Monday. She offered her a spot on her team, and between academic and athletic money, it would be basically a free ride. At a good school. With a good sand program. I think I cried for half an hour, I was so overwhelmed and happy for her.

Then the next coach called. We still have two visits lined up and who knows how this will all end up, but it looks like baby gets to live her dream, and all that hard work, all that drama, all those hundreds of miles and hours in the car and freezing in the midwest and coach hopping and playing up in the women's leagues and strength conditioning and determination have paid off. She's gotten so much better, and none of this would have happened if her first coach wasn't such a control freak and a giver of unreasonable ultimatums. I can't stop thinking about him calling her average, and nicknaming her tofu, because she was a bland player. The college coaches see her very differently and she's getting some really head swelling feedback right now. Again, vindicating.

I won't jinx it yet. When she commits, I'll brag my ass off about where. I'm just so very proud of her, and so relieved she gets what she wants out of this, and so freaking relieved that we don't have to worry about how to pay for tuition for the second kid.

So life right now is pretty good, even if it's crazy. We leave 3am Monday for Florida again for more camps and school visits and then she flies straight to California for tournaments, camps and tournaments with the best of the best. She'll be gone three weeks, home for three days, then straight to Milwaukee for the Nationals.  Whew. Then it will be August and I'll be asking where July went.

And then there was the chicken. Pretty Penny, the Polish Golden Laced hen who showed up wet, lost, afraid and immediately stole our hearts. What does one do with a chicken in the suburbs? We kept her for two weeks until it became obvious that this is not a farm, we do not have a flock to keep her company and the neighbors could call Animal Control on us whenever they wanted, because of the no chicken ordinance. So we found her a good home, a farm full of wonderful critters and lots of all kinds of chickens and we hope she's happy but we miss her, and that egg a day program. Having a chicken around really can change your life. Even my husband fell hard for her. But this was the right choice, for right now. Especially with the travel schedule we're looking at this month. I wish we could have kept her, because we bonded. I'll be calling to check in on her, for sure. Maybe arrange a visit. I should have negotiated shared custody.

She's pretty fancy, eh?

So, thanks for checking in, reading all the way to the bottom, of a too long post. I hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July Celebration if you do that kind of thing, barbecues and watermelon and whatnot. We'll be on the beach, again. Not a bad way to go.

xo