School Spirit

I was never really into homecoming as a teen - even when I was in High School myself. This year all I heard about in the week leading up to homecoming was, "can I go to the game, mom?" and "can I dress up and paint my face?" and "all my friends will be there". This was from the girls - they were pretty excited to go. Gabriel was a bit more casual about it. His only concern was if I was going to come watch his program. Gabriel really enjoys hanging out with the band and does a great job with his marching.

I don't think I went to more than one HS football game in my 4 years of HS...and I never went when I was in the younger grades. I guess with three children in band I'll be making up for that now.


Each weekend the kids and I head out to cheer Gabriel and Katrina on at their cross country meets. Some of the meets are pretty far. The last one was 1-1/2 hours away. The team was treated to lunch by their coach after the meet, so Gabe and Katrina rode the bus home so they could participate. Why oh why didn't I just say, "Have a good time at the meet, call me when you get back to the school"? Nooooo.....I had to drive the rest of the children waaaaay over to the meet, stand in the hot brutal sun for hours, and drive all the way home again.

As it was I received a phone call from Katrina about 20 minutes before I arrived at the meet. She told me that Gabriel was starting his run. My question was whether he was running 2 or 3 miles. If it was 2 miles I would miss it. If he was running 3 I might just make it for the finish. I suppressed the urge to put on the gas (good thing too as I passed a sheriff pulling over the car that had just sped by me) and continued on - hoping to make it. We got to the meet and rushed over to the finish line exactly 60 seconds before Gabriel came running in. We cheered and waved and he was happy as could be that we had made it.

Of course Gabriel would choose THAT day to set his personal record and come in under 20 minutes. Katrina also set a personal record for her 2 mile run. They were so excited and sooo glad that we were there to witness their accomplishments...guess it makes those looong car rides worth it.