As I write this for you, I have a cup of extra strong coffee poured into an old Starbucks paper coffee cup with a pink straw sticking out of it. I need the straw in the coffee. It helps me drink it faster. And I need all the help I can get right now, even if it is in the form of more coffee than usual for me. Even my husband says that is a lot of coffee. Currently, my family is in the middle of football season. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. In just a few weeks I will be home in an evening so perhaps I can get all those clothes that are washed but then just tossed in a chair in a corner – okay, honestly, it’s a mountain of clothes and I am thankful it’s in a corner so that the clothes can lean against the wall and climb toward the ceiling without falling on the floor and getting dirty again – folded AND put away. Maybe.
There is a group of moms that now see each other six days a week, sometimes seven. There is no pretending with us anymore. They have heard me use my “super mean mom” voice, they have watched my kids be naughty, they have seen me give up and decide to just try again tomorrow, they have been with me when I’ve been mad, sick, beyond exhausted or laughing giddily over something. This pack, we have shared all these moments together, cheering our boys on, talking injuries, figuring out carpooling and talking about what to do for dinner…again. In a small town football stand, in a stinky vehicle with little boys making siren noises, walking the track at night to get in better shape…we have had numerous “praise and coffee times”, mostly me doing most the coffee drinking, but still.
It’s just the season we are in right now. I am giddy about being done with the driving back and forth and hours and hours staying away from home, living out of the suburban, doing homework on consoles and library books, among other things. But I’ll also miss practice time and game time. Because I’ll miss watching my boys play, yes, but because I’ll miss the connection I have with other mom’s. This “pack” we have.
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We are sharing life together. Together it’s a beautiful thing. And that is what I will miss when football season is over. Not enough to drive to the field every night still, but enough to make sure that the “pack” still keeps getting together regularly. Because the friends you can be nitty-gritty real with and love you all the more for it, those are the friends you can never replace or ever find the proper words to describe.
Praise and Coffee | Fall 2012