Monday, September 16, 2013

Making the team

Jack making the HHS golf team for the 2nd year has got me thinking. Rick and I are not golfers. Rick hates playing golf. He likes watching Jack play but one time when he was working in Peoria, he was golfing with a Dr. and the Dr. said in his cute Asian accent, "Rick, you know, if someone ask you if you play golf, you really should say no." haha, 15 years later we still laugh at Dr. Chang's advice to Rick. So, Jack finding golf is really sort of a fluke. Let's go back a few years. He played baseball, just rec ball but that's okay. And, he played football. Every boy usually plays a few years of baseball and football around here. Remember we live in SEC country where football in king and we live in Hoover where football is king. We love football, all of us. It's a huge part of our fall. But Jack learned early on that he was not going to be a Hoover football player. Rick and I thought, maybe we should have moved to a district that had a smaller high school so our kids would have an opportunity to play the sport they wanted to. But then we thought, maybe it's better to go to a school that doesn't just let everyone play. They have to make cuts and if you're not good enough to be on the team, well then, you're cut. Trust me, I know what that feels like. It's not fun and it hurts but you know what it does do. It makes you either work harder for the next try out or it makes  you evolve. Jack wasn't going to make the HHS baseball team, he knew that in 7th grade, he wasn't going to see the field on the football team. So, he decided to start golfing.  He tried out when he was a freshman but he was cut. So, he kept on trying and learning and practicing and he made it the next year and then again this year. I always tease him and say, you may not be on fancy tours when you're older but you'll know how to handle business on the golf course and a lot of business deals go down out there. It's tough being cut from a team but life's tough and maybe it's better to learn how to adapt and evolve when you're young so you'll know how to roll with the punhces when you're older and no one's giving you a free pass just because you're you.

***Side note about HHS... Competition is always fierce. There are a lot of kids vying for a few spots. I don't care if it's math team, cheerleading, baseball, soccer or peer helping. They're all good, they're all prepared and they want to make the team. It's always hard. Kudos to the kids who keep on trying and evolving and practicing! Go Bucs!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Listen



Be still and listen. Ahh, for me it is so hard. Should be easy right? The min. I sit an try to listen and just be still, my mind goes racing with a million things, I should be doing, I should have done, I should worry about and on and on. I obviously need to work on this. So, as I'm trying to be all meditative and such, I suddenly go into Becky Bloomwood mode. I need a fun new mat to "listen" on, and maybe a new zen cd to have in the back ground to help me get in listening mode. Oh and should I set up a cute listening spot in my room? But then I start thinking about what's under the bed and I should dust the blinds and the bathroom is nearby and I'm certain it needs cleaning too. Or maybe I should drive to the park and set up a cute spot but it's kind of hot out and ugh, there are bugs and of course other people that might be in my listening space. Ahhh haha, I know in my heart it really shouldn't be so darn complicated. I should just stop drop and listen. I've read that when we truly open our hearts and mind to the Holy Spirit, it's amazing what we'll hear. I love that, I love knowing there is always hope for so much more than our crazy busy lives. But then my human ego sets in sometimes and I think, what if I hear something that I'm not so sure about? What if it's a message that wants me to change? I know I know, that's where my prayer comes in. I know that. But change is scary and that's a whole different topic. For now, I'm just going to be still and listen. Or at least I'm going to try to.