Thank You Coach

Every now and then we get it right.  Yesterday we sure did...thanks to the faculty and staff at the high school that has worked so diligently over the years with a ton of my kids, through good times and bad, as had Sabrina's middle school and elementary school.  If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, we are so blessed here in this county with our superb school system.

Sabrina officially signed with Brenau University, ranked #2 in the nation for competition cheer leading, there's a trip to Daytona Beach in my next Spring's plans, to watch Sabrina in action for the National Championships.

Again, it bears repeating, Sabrina accomplished this 100% herself.  I didn't even know this was a thing. However, it now falls on me to help her come up with $34,000 a year for college.  Good thing I've been to this rodeo before, paperwork here I come.

What you can't see in this picture are Sabrina's friends, who joined us for this celebration, nor can you see the spread of food that Miss Debbie said Miss Barbie, wife of the most amazing guidance counselor on earth,  put out for us to enjoy after the signing.  The school had given Sabrina a special pen in its own wooden box with the high school's name for this signing, she's brought more pride to this school for having been selected, public and positive recognition for a school already well known for its excellence.

I got out of my PJs, put on a church jacket, and make-up for this event.  Well not face makeup, that makes me itch, I've not used any since middle school when I discovered it smelled too girly and was like slathering on a mask, yucko, I'll concede to eye make-up and lipstick, and that's it.

Chuck left work, bringing a bouquet of flowers for Sabrina, Marcela left work to join us, Sarah'd come from her yoga teaching class with both kids, and I'd checked Sabrina's birth siblings out of their respective schools to enjoy this proud moment with her.  Chuy remained upstairs at the high school working on a project, and JoJo somehow slipped through the cracks.

CW, Lily, Tony, JoJo, Sabrina, Allen, Martin and Chuy all attend this high school together, Sabrina's already getting weirdly antsy about being Bodie-less next year at college.  There's huge emotional comfort from being with one's siblings, hardly a mile from our home.

She's come a very long way from the emergency shelter for homeless children that the four of them had been in this time 8 years ago as I anxiously waited my last adoptive placement of children.  I'd call them in the evenings to chat, as we awaited the paperwork to be approved at the state level, and I'd always hear Tabby crying in the background as the short-handed staff dealt with everything.

Thankfully Tabby has no memory of all that, as she was a toddler then, now she too has plans to go to college and be a teacher like Ms. Carr someday.

I profusely thanked Sabrina's coach pictured here with her, but she blew me off, "This is all Sabrina," which is true, as our Memaw'd taught her own self everything she knows.  Other peers have had 10-15 years of tumbling or gymnastics lessons, my kid went outside and learned on her own, graced with an amazing physical ability to do these jumps, spins, tucks, and whatever else they're called.

She sure didn't learn any physical coordination from me, what with my inability to walk in flats across a carpet and not trip over my own feet.

Daniel and Megan got here later, it's Daniel's Drill weekend with the National Guard, and I let my baby boy CW, now almost 17, take my truck to drive back up to the high school last night for a ballgame.  Jack and Scotty played flashlight tag at the church with the middle school youth group, I drove Scooby Doo (Martin) to get a haircut, no more Mogli, now he has that teen boy cool cut, and everyone settled down nicely to get some sleep, full of frijoles.

This morning Nando wanted to go to yard sales, there were several listed over in Athens, but it's 31 degrees at sunrise.  It'll be 62 degrees later and I just wasn't feeling it.  "Honey," I reminded him, "We'll be going every Saturday for months to come, let's not go freeze our butts off this morning," which suited him fine, and he's playing video games instead, as everyone slowly wakes up and staggers out of their respective rooms, all of us slap happy 'bout Sabrina's accomplishments.

Tony, now 17, told me last night that when he'd been called up to the front office for all this, he'd seen Marcela, Yolie and Sarah standing there, but not me, because I was with the new coach.  His first thought, his heart-stopping alarm due to PTSD, was that, "Uh-oh, something's happened to Mom."  His fright overtook his own reasoning skills, he related to me later.

He'd totally forgot about this signing event, this is how traumatized, hyper-vigilant children operate, always severely afraid of the other shoe dropping, of losing those who are close to you.  When he quickly realized this was a happy event, he told me his heart had settled back down.

Dumb me had sent a text to my high school kids within minutes, telling them to come to the Brenau singing event.  They all thought, "I don't wanna ride all the way to Brenau to watch someone sing."

Stupid auto-correct.  Like anyone of us, besides maybe JoJo and Lily, can even carry a tune?

I wrote a $65 check for Sabrina's senior dues, next year I'll have four more seniors, then they'll be 20, 18, 18, and 18.  Do the math, three more after them the following year.