Mistakes made right

I made a mistake tonight.  One I've never made before and was completely out of character for me.  We missed a soccer practice.  Anyone who knows me knows I am anally early to everything.  Whether I want to be there or not, I always arrive ridiculously early everywhere we go.  Until this evening when we were 57 minutes late to an hour long soccer practice.  I felt horrible.  It was Maya's first practice of the new season, and mama messed up.  

But it was a beautiful night.

And we were already dressed for soccer practice - Maya and I in cleats, Eva and Sofia in sweats and tennis shoes.

So I asked the coach if we could borrow one of the team balls so we could practice a little on our own.

And we spent the next 40 minutes having the best night we've had in a LONG time.

We took over half a soccer field and we ran that grass raw.  We never stopped laughing and smiling.  

At one point, I looked around at the other fields where teams of little ones were practicing.  The kids were running and smiling....the parents were standing around bored and tuned out.  And, all I thought was: "Wow.  What a wasted opportunity.  Smile, damnit!  Get out there and chase your kid down the field!  Laugh, for God's sake!  Kick a ball with the little one waiting for her brother's practice to end!  Stop rolling your eyes at me!"

Yep, Eva and I belly bumped every time we scored on her sisters.

Yep, I trash talked my six year old, edited for content of course.

Yep, we yelled like crazy South American futbol champs every time we were awesome (which was pretty frequent, of course).

And, yep, we were absolutely having a better time than you.

Listen, life is hard.  It's stressful and trying to carve out time to just play can feel impossible.  I get it.  On our way out the door this evening, I was yelling at Maya because she couldn't find the jacket she had just taken off.  I was ready to pull all of my hair out.

Then we were 57 minutes late.  And, I could've kicked myself all night for it.  I could've gotten back in the car and driven back home to get back to the colossal heap of responsibilities that await me.  

But I would've missed the flushed faces of three happy kids.  I would've missed the intense feelings that only come from those tiny moments of "I'm doing this right".  I would've missed the best night we've had in longer than I care to say.

And that, so much more than the missed appointment, would've been a mistake.

And, I'd bet my shiny new soccer cleats that every one of those other kids would've lit up the field if their parent had run in for a high five.  I know all I heard from mine on the car ride home was "mama, that was the best family night ever!  Let's do that again!".  

Who knows, maybe we'll be late again next week...