I have made a terrible mistake. The smallest son has been asking to play soccer ever since I said that he couldn't last year. This year I felt guilty; he isn't old enough to play school sport yet (that starts in 3rd grade) and he thought he was missing out. I called a family conference and the boys and I decided that one soccer game on a Saturday morning we could do. We won't have to travel far and it should be all over by 10am. Inwardly I winced, as Saturday is the ONLY day I get to sleep in, but I gritted my teeth and agreed to the plan.
Next we had to join a club. The last club we were part of was pretty good, but playing soccer can get expensive with registration fees and weekly dues, so we decided to look around. (During this looking around period imagine small 6 year old asking every day "have you signed me up for soccer yet?"). An ad in the paper caught my eye. Free registration for under 7's, no weekly fees and to top it off it was a church club. Ah, I think to myself, should have a good coach and maybe even some sportsmanship lessons. As a female, I think that sport should be about more than just winning. Every other male in my family disagrees with me on this point, but since I was picking the club, I could include this in my criteria. I was also hoping that some male influence would be good with dad away. So we join this club. Training fits into my weekly schedule, just; and we get out the soccer boots to find a pair that fits. Everything has been going along merrily until last training session.
We have been waiting for the draw to come out. I assumed that since we live in the Nepean Zone that our new club would play in the Nepean Zone. Did I get a rude shock. Our new club plays in it's own competition of Combined Churches and we have to travel. Not just 15mins down the road to the local oval, but 35mins down the freeway, to places that I haven't even heard of.
What on earth have I done??? Oldest son asks if there is any chance we can pull him out, but we both dismiss the idea as we wouldn't be able to stand the nagging. It dawns on us that 9am starts mean we need to leave the house just after 8am, which means we need to get up just after 7am!!! Horrific!! Even worse when winter arrives!
There is a silver lining to this cloud (The Lord is gracious). Half the games will be home games, some games will start at 10am and Grandma and Grandpa live near a few of the fields so we can have a sleepover there when needed. We have also taken the opportunity to invite ourselves over for morning tea to good friends who live near another field.
Andrew played his first game on the weekend and his team won 5-0. The look on his face reminded that some things in life are more important than sleeping in. I pray that God will gently remind me of this fact one cold and frosty morning in a few months time.
