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Absolutely Normal Chaos: My Personal War
(Mom) plus (Five kids) minus (Dad in Iraq) plus (one year) = chaos
By: Amy Efaw
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| Monday, 15-Aug-2005 00:00 |
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Two months later . . .
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Arianna's new competitive soccer team winning the championship.
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Um, somewhere I got kinda off track on this blogging thing.
I think it fell apart when Andy came home on R and R. He got home on July 6th and stayed home for about 17 days, I think. It took him about 4 days to get over jet lag (4 days in which he slept sporadically and not much, so consequently neither did I. His eyes would pop open around 1 a.m. and then he'd spend some time tossing and turning until I, too, was awake, and then he'd say, "Let's go downstairs and watch T.V." or surf the web, etc. etc. I finally told him that I've been on Denver time for a looonnng time now, thank you v. much, and I'd kinda like to not have to get over jet lag, too.
He left the day after a soccer tournament started in Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy. He got to see Anastasia and Alexandra play a game each, then had to fly early the next day. Since then, one kid or another (or all) have had soccer tournaments (2 to be exact), and there's one planned for this upcoming weekend. All this before the soccer season actually officially starts (Aug. 27th).
This past weekend, Arianna played w/ her new competitive team she tried out for at the end of May (see blog entries). It was the first time her team had played together after only about 4 practices. They won their division, making them tournament champs. Arianna scored 9 goals in 5 games -- 2 "hat tricks" and one penalty kick among them. She had a blast. And I (and poor Andrew and Kat) had the dubious pleasure of watching 15 plus games in those 5 days (actually 4 days because one of the days was rained out and all those games had to be rescheduled). By the end of the weekend, I was bleary eyed and exhausted (and I didn't do anything but watch!).
Today was a BIG day in our Efaw history. Alexandra went to her first day of high school. She's going to George Washington High School in the inner city of Denver. If you recall, she got into the IB program there, and because of this program, George Washington (or "George" as the school's affectionately called) is ranked 92 of all public high school in the country.
Well, today she entered the school of 5000 students not knowing anyone but one kid from her junior high. She'd gotten her schedule last week at registration, but none of her classes were with this one girl she knew. But Alix didn't seem nervous at all. She told me, "Mom, I get more nervous before soccer games than I am now." My mind flashed back to my first day of high school, and it seemed, literally, like last week. My mom embarrassed me beyond belief by insisting I stand in front of my high school's sign and have my pic taken. Today, I planned on dropping Alix off at the main entrance, but she insisted I come inside w/ her. "Are you sure?" I asked. "There aren't a lot of parents coming in w/ their kids. I don't want you to be embarrassed." She observed for a minute, then pointed out the one or two parents making their ways into the school among all the freshmen. "See, Mom? There're some parents right there." So, we went in together (behind a girl all dressed up in a multi-colored burka. No kidding) and followed the throng to a table where 2 women were handing out revised schedules (if necessary) and student ID cards. Alix was told to go into the auditorium and wait for further instructions. So right there in the midst of about 1000 urban freshmen, she gave me a big hug and kiss and then strode into the auditorium. No problemo.
Tomorrow we're taking Denver's public bus (RTD system) to her school because from tomorrow onward, she's prob going to be taking the city bus to school. She's not a bit afraid of that either; she just wants me to take it w/ her the first time so she knows what to do. Way braver than I ever dreamed of being as a 14 year old!
It's really quite pathetic that I can sum up the past 8 weeks in a few short paragraphs, isn't it?
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