Happy Mutha's Day, Soccer-Style

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all you mothers out there (not to be confused with mutha's). I realize I'm a day late on this but since I'm a day late and a dollar short for most things in my life, this is really just par for the course for me.

On Mother's Day each year (well, for the last 11 years), I remember vividly when I was a child on Mother's Day and asking with a sneer--as I'm sure all kids do--"Mother's Day? When is it going to be kids day?" And what's the answer? Of course: "EVVVVVERY day is kids day." That answer ticked me off at the time because there was certainly no special day of gifts and presents that came kids' way, not counting, you know, Christmas, Easter or birthdays. But lord, once you are a parent, is there any more true statement than EVERY day is kids day? And now, my own son asks me that same question each Mother's/Father's Day. And he gives me the same look of disgust I'm sure I wore when hearing the infamous answer.

So in keeping with every day being kids day, we spent Mother's Day weekend at the soccer field. And not just any soccer field, but one that was a gazillion miles away, playing games that were scheduled just far enough apart that it was senseless to drive home between them but a long enough duration that we had some serious time to kill.

What I learned during that time to kill is that the parents of our soccer team are the coolest. And I have seven years of soccer parents to compare them to, so I should know. We were mostly all unfamiliar with one another this season, all coming into a relatively new program. It took awhile to learn who everyone was, let alone get to know them. But I'd begun to suspect recently that we might have a Grade A group and this weekend confirmed it. Too bad it took dang near all season before we figured it out. I believe we had more fun laughing it up together this weekend than we had all the rest of the season combined. Better late than never tho, right? I learned valuable things during the Cool Parents Soccer Extravaganza:

1. A soccer tournament is better played with cleats (eh hem, you know who you are)
2. Boys who are big enough to drive themselves to the field probably aren't 11 years old
3. Boys who are two heads taller than you give them a distinct advantage when playing soccer
4. Adult men running around with 11 year olds pre-game + wet grass = A 10 from the judges but an aching hip later
5. Folks giving you a hard time for buying a 4WD in the snow-deficient south shut up quick when it comes to creative parking in an overfull soccer parking lot
6. Boiled peanuts are under-appreciated everywhere but in the south
7. Eight boys eat two large pizzas in 45 seconds flat...and then expect parents to have a bottomless coin purse of quarters
8. Even driving around an area they grew up in, men still get lost.
9. Italian ice vendors can alter their "free samples" sign remarkably fast when they realize a kids soccer tournament is in town
10. A forfeit from the other team is still a win

Like every other day, Mother's Day still surrounded my child but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Thanks to all who made it a great holiday to remember...