Monday, November 14, 2011

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.



9 comments:

Kay L. Davies said...

Is there a championship for cross-country-driving-mothers?

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel

Occasional Kate said...

The real question is...the day when CB son is old enough to drive himself hither and yon, are you waiting on baited breath or loathe to let him out on his own? And.. if I ever win the lottery, I'll be sure to send you a chauffeur first thing. LOL

deborah said...

My, what a weekend you have had! You always seem to see the sunny side and the humor in every situation, no matter how exhausted umm busy you might be! Love your bio notes for your book- but soon CB son will be driving and you will be fretting while he is out.
Wishing you a great week!

growing wild on waverly lane said...

Add another kid and you have my story. Three wild girls. Hell on wheels times three. And each one got more efficient at sucking the life out of a hardly competent mother.

Remember you still have to come: obsessive boyfriends (girlfriends); drinking and driving worries; exposure to drugs; driving while being a teenager with a car full of basketball team members (thank you Christy Miller); and the ever popular shoplifting (court dates).

Remember your children are related to middle sis and baby sis. God go with you.

Daryl said...

WOW .. when you were a Girl Scout was there a badge for chauffeuring?

Maria_NJ said...

you are waaay too hard on yourself, you are very qualified to write that book and I am sure it is going to be wonderful...I mean it, if you need a couple of days away you are welcome to the Jerzee shore any time, or we can take a Greyhound and go to NYC and go visit Darryl...oohhh CHRISTmas time in the city is wonderful, the tree, the lights, the store windows....

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Kay-If there were, I'd like to think I'd be a contender...

Kate-He is next up for the Driver's Ed car at school, and after that he'll be eligible for his license. The issue is that I only have one car, so even if he has his license we'd have to carefully coordinate who's going where and when. All this gives me a headache and I'm in denial about it...please go out and buy that lottery ticket today! And thank you for the chauffeur offer.

Deborah-If I didn't make jokes I'd be crying, so I guess I'd rather laugh. Yes, I am eternally exhausted!

Dearest Chesapeake Bay Mother - Right now I am plugging my ears with my fingers, squeezing my eyes shut tight and singing "la la la la la la" because I cannot even begin to think about any similarities between my sisters and my kids, even if CB Daughter looks identical to Baby Sis...I would like to state for the record that the only item on your list I identify with is the Christy Miller reference. Yes, there were some stories there, but we all lived to tell them.

Daryl - I quit Brownie scouts after about the second meeting. Hated the uniform and the beanie cap.

Happy Monday!

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Maria - I have been contemplating a trip north over Christmas break...I'll let you know - great idea!

Mental P Mama said...

Zoinks! And, I thought to myself: Self, that there looks like a steeplechase jump! You need a vacation. Just sayin'.