HAPPY / SAD

I don't really like change. I know, hard to believe! Today I am learning that change is okay. Everything has a time and the time has come now for my son to leave club soccer. It is hard to let go of that in some ways, but such a major relief in other ways.

I asked Colton if he was sad and will he miss his friends from soccer. He said not that sad and he will keep in contact through facebook with a lot of the boys. Then he said how much he will miss the weekly practice and his coach. Luckily he is starting his wrestling season and then the potential for so many other things. He will have open weekends, the first in a very long time.

I will miss seeing him practice and play competitive soccer. He is a good player, such potential that the coaches never tapped into. I will miss the friends I have made along this journey with him. The bond of our children being on the same team for multiple years. It is like letting go of a piece of me I didn't know defined me so much. I will still be a soccer mom, but now I will be a football/wrestling mom too. This is a good reminder that I am more than just the mom, I am me with so many outside interest that I have put on the back burner for this sport.

I will not miss the politics on his team, the drain on our income, or the doubts about Colton's abilities. This is really a racket someone has come up with, I tell ya. Money poured into a sport so your child can make the high school team, and then they tell you don't play high school soccer, only club if you want to be a real soccer snob. The money in this sport is crazy and crazier that we as parents fall into the trap. In the world of competitive soccer if you are not on the "A" team, then your abilities are never fully recognized, they just take your money and tell you to keep striving for the top team. I will not miss that one small bit, but will still have it while Mariah plays club soccer.

The good news is that he is very good at lots of sports and will go on to participate in them for high school. I will still be Colton's mom just not always on the soccer field. Now I will have one winter season of sitting in a gym instead of always on the soccer field.

I find it such different worlds for boys and girls and their team commitments. Boys can commit to a team and play with anybody if they are of the same ability as themselves. Girls, on the other hand, really need to bond on an emotional level with their teammates to really feel comfortable and compete together. I find it fascinating the way it works. Colton has loved his team, liked the players but never found it necessary to hang out with them after the game/practice time. The boys that attend the same school do hang out together, but the rest are just friends at practice. Mariah on the other hand, loves her team, is friends with all the girls and chooses to hang out with them outside of soccer.

Here is to a new season in life for Colton. May he find this path to be the best of choices. I know he will be happy and do well. He is looking forward to high school next year and all it has to offer. I am looking forward to one less sporting event every weekend. School sports are the best because they don't usually take up all your weekends of the year.

So that is the answer, happy to be on to a new chapter, sad to see this chapter close. It means it is one step closer to my children growing up, I am not always that prepared for this to happen.