The Weekend

The Virginia High School League Cross Country Championships
were held at Great Meadows, The Plains, which is approximately four thousand miles
from Mathews, but  who's counting? what a spectacularly beautiful course.

This weekend can only be summarized as no rest for the weary a whirlwind of people and activity. Before I delve into the specifics, let me first state that, for reasons I shall not question, my camera functioned properly at the state cross country meet!

Although I'm plenty naive, I am not naive enough to think this will last, because the problem only seems to go away when I have the camera set to the sports mode.  But at least my beloved camera is not quite dead...yet.

The course is also used for horse races.
This jump was near the finish line where I was situated.
What a gorgeous day it was.

Kyle Slaughter was the first of the Mathews boys to cross the finish line, 68th out of 131 runners. I'd also like to state for the record that I think Kyle is one of the most photogenic runners I've ever seen. His mom, who graduated with Middle Sis,told me he was approached by a modeling agency at a young age. I see why.

Here's how the weekend went.  For the abbreviated, cliff notes version, please skip down to the * at the very end.

Friday
-Dropped off Daughter at school in Gloucester by 7:45 a.m. (30 miles round trip)
-Dropped Son off at the high school to catch the bus for the state cross country meet. (8 miles round trip)
-Drove back that evening to Gloucester to pick up Daughter and BFF Taitum from basketball practice. (30 miles round trip)
-Was informed they wouldn't have much time for the dinner I fixed because they were going to the Mathews High School football game that evening, if that was OK with me.
-Dropped Daughter and Friend off at football game at 7:30 p.m. (8 miles round trip)
-Realized I couldn't even relax at this point (i.e. get settled for the night, i.e. put on bathrobe and fuzzy socks) because I had to go back out to retrieve them at 9:00 p.m. and a bathrobe and fuzzy socks would not be appropriate attire if I ever hoped to speak to my daughter again. And I'd really like to.
-Went back out at 9:00 and waited in the parking lot like a chauffeur for Daughter and BFF. (8 miles round trip)

Saturday
-Drove 3 hours (one way; 330 miles round trip) to the state cross country meet. Although Chesapeake Bay Son was not running (he was an alternate and would run if one of the top seven runners was injured), I was eager to see the race and excited to get away from home, if only for a day. It was a beautiful fall Saturday, and the leaves still clinging to the trees along the Route 17 corridor were brilliantly colored.
-After I got lost not once but twice I arrived slightly frazzled.
-I ran into our coach who said, "I don't want to get a frazzled mother's hopes up, but one of our runners might not be be able to race, so there's a chance CB Son may be going in."
-This frazzled mother, who was just barely only psychologically prepared to cheer on the team and take pictures with a camera that may or may not be working, was taken aback at this new information which caused an adrenaline rush on top of all the caffeine already saturating her system. Come to find out, the other runner, CB Son's friend who was sick, decided to run at the last minute.
-Was relieved to resume my original role as team photographer and overall supporter vs. the role of Mother of Someone Actually Running when that Someone has an appointment with a specialist in a few weeks to check up on a heart defect that heretofore has not impacted him but a frazzled mother always worries....
-Was pleased to run into a high school friend, Mark, and his wife Charlene, whose daughter was running for Washington and Lee. Mark, who claims to have Jokes Tourettes, said that the only person who would come in after his daughter would be the person on crutches. (His daughter will hopefully never know that (a) I chuckled at this statement at her expense and (b) her father ever said it because (c) she came in strong and had a fine race. Anyone who finishes that course without resorting to crawling has really accomplished something.)
-After driving the 3 hours home, I was ready to do a swan dive into bed  had to wait for the cross country bus to arrive at the high school.  So I went home and waited for the text that said they were in the vicinity and then went back out to retrieve CB Son. (8 miles round trip, which feels like 88 when you've already driven hundreds of miles and all you really want to be staring at is the back of your eyelids)
-Thinking, very naively, that once we got him home, finally, I could relax, I was surprised to learn that he had plans to attend a birthday party at the Ruritan Club that evening. (Although I knew about the party, the last he told me was he wasn't going. Note to self:  Take anything uttered by a teenager as "Subject to change depending on which way the wind is blowing, what time of day it is, whether or not they've eaten recently, and whether or not they are actually listening to the questions you are asking them.")
-So, after he showered and changed and got all gussied up, I drove him to the Ruritan Club, which thankfully is not far (walking distance, in fact, for a cross country runner) from my house. When I asked what time I had to pick him up? 11:00. That was the exact same 11:00 I had hoped to be horizontal in bed.  The very same one. 
-Out again I go at 11:00 to retrieve him. After that, then and only then could I relax for the day.
-Suddenly I felt absolutely no remorse for submitting, as part of the marketing material for the book which asked questions about my background, that I was "only remotely qualified to do a book on Mathews but was over-qualified to be an uncompensated taxi driver for teenagers." I don't think they'll use it, but I swear that's what I wrote. And I mean it.

Sunday
-Don't get me started.

The End.

* My weekend consisted of driving to and from a revolving door of events for my children.  The only other thing I did was put more miles on the odometer gas in the car.  I'm tired and need a vacation that does not involve driving. The End.