Bump, Set, Spike!

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious." --Vince Lombardi

When I was 15 I joined a team, a group, a sisterhood of sorts when I stepped into Hell Week. It was the one week in the summer when everything else was put aside.  When twice a day, I gave everything I had to a game.  I'm a huge fan of Friday Night Lights, the movie, the tv show, the atmosphere.  But years ago I lived for other nights, game nights.  I lived for volleyball.  I trained all year long, all the other sports I played were for the volleyball season.  In less you were in that gym, you may not understand and it's hard to describe.

My coach was Tom Finicle, not a guy that at first glance you would be intimidated by.  But he could yell and he could motivate.  He motivated with balls being thrown at your head at speeds paralleled with major league pitchers.  He motivated with wind sprints, running laps and if you were lucky you got to carry a medicine ball while you ran.  He motivated with inspirational quotes on t shirts, old ball skins, and letters sent to players during study hall.  He hated failure but he also hated winning when you hadn't won by playing your best.locker room until he stopped his ranting. 

The volleyball teams were always successful and I guess that fueled the hard work.  You knew you were on a winning team.  We were as respected as the boys' football team.  It also meant that certain things were expected of you especially as a senior.  As a senior you were expected to lead the underclassman and if they screwed up the seniors were held accountable.  We fought amongst ourselves but we also fought for each other.  One time during a game against an opposing team, I saw an ex-boyfriend.  He was there cheering on his new girlfriend on the other side of the net from me.  I pointed this out to a friend in the front row, who had a wicked spike, and a bad temper.  She asked for the next ball and when it came to her she spiked it into the chest of the 'new girlfriend' and she left the game in tears.  He approached me after the game and asked if that was intentional....I of course had no idea what he was suggesting. Anyway, we took care of each other.

1991 Seniors

You know how I hate Math?  Well, I wasn't very good in school at all, but Volleyball was my motivation.  I trained in the class room so I could train in the gym!  I wish I had that same body and was in that good of shape and could still wear spandex like I did back then!  It wasn't all bad stuff.  We had great camaraderie.  We were friends off the court.  My favorite thing was to have random sleepovers.  At the end of the game, in the locker room we would start planning.  Our parents usually obliged.  They were very supportive and were friends in the stands.  It was great to be part of a team, a successful one at that.

So what did I learn from Volleyball and Fin......A couple years ago I poured out my heart on paper and shared some of this with Fin, I thought it was important for him to know what Volleyball did for me.

What I learned...

*to curse....I know it's not nice but I remember during my 100th windsprint of the practice that I uttered my first curse word, but it was a long time ago. ;)

*weight control and the importance of exercise......I never wanted to run with the medicine ball and I made it thru 3 years without doing so until the last practice my senior year.  I can still hear Fin yelling....

*it takes an entire roll of tape to wrap an ankle......That ankle thing I'm dealing with started because of VB.

*how to mouth off......enough said.

*hard work pays off but not in ways you think....I'm not talented by nature, everything takes work.

*how to stick up for what is right....because at one time a Coach stood up for me.

*discipline......it was drilled into me.

*when the going gets tough the tough gets going......VB training was perfect training for my life as a military wife.  Sometimes you get bombarded with balls such as deployments, moving, or having babies without your spouse present.  You experience the highs and the lows.  And more than once you face your fears and learn what you are made of.

You see, volleyball was more than a game.  First of all, we were a sorority.  We had an understanding.  It was a sisterhood that to this day over a 25 year history of playing for Finicle still stands. 

Volleyball prepared me for the game of 'Life'.  I of course didn't realize this until about 20 years later.  Volleyball and life in general are interchangeable.  I'm grateful for the lessons it taught me while doing thru some of the hardest years of my life.  Some people say that sports are just that, sports.  But I think for every coach out there they need to understand that it's more than just a sport, they are preparing these kids for the big game of Life: winning, lose, success, failure, hard work, pride, discipline.  Tonight the VolleyKnights played in the semi-finals, no matter the score or the outcome, I am a part of that legacy.  It was and still is one of my finest hours, but then again I guess you'd have to have played the game to understand.






 

It's all routine in this house.......

Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next. ~Franklin P. Jones

Recently, I watched my wedding video.  At a wedding shower, I claimed I wanted 5 kids and wanted to own a flower shop.  Wow!  Was I wrong about both of those things?  For starters, I know nothing about flowers or plants, my thumb is black.  And secondly, 5 kids.....what was I thinking?

I guess what I should have been was an orthopaedic doctor or a doctor period but I think that involves Math and you all know how I feel about Math!  These kids have tested my patience but they have tested my resolve.....let me give you the run down.

All three were born with a dimple at the end of their spines that had to be ultrasound.  All three were cleared.

Trevette was healthy until he was 18 months of age and then BAM he was sick.  2 years of intensive medical care concluded he had full blown asthma.  Today it's not an issue.

Trevette had 2 surgeries to remove his adenoids and tonsils.  One additional surgery repaired numerous cavities he had caused by allergy medicine.

Guthrie spent the first 4 hours of his life in the NICU. He did not cry when he was born. Now that I know him it may have been that he was just too lazy to cry.

We went for quite some time before we faced a medical issue.  Trevette decided to have a seizure (the first one we knew of) on a cross country flight from Boise, Idaho to Chicago.  I was never so freaked in my life.  Fortunately we were on a United flight with a neurologist and 3 very good flight attendants.  United accommodated us with food and tickets.  Of course we got to get off the plane first with 200 strangers staring at us.  And I must say having half of the Chicago Fire Dept waiting for you as you deboard a plane is an experience.  Did you know that they stop airplanes taxiing when an ambulance is present?

Our next crisis was just that when on a May day, Superman, Cohen decided watching a trash truck go by the house was not exciting enough and he fell out of a second story window.  There's a point in a crisis where you say to yourself, "This is going to be a bad day."  I said that to myself as I called my husband to yell at him for leaving the window open and then he calmly told me to call 911.  I didn't want to call 911, it was going to ruin my day!  I placed the call and moments later heard the town fire siren bellow and then minutes later I could hear the ambulance sirens as it came nearer.  There is something surreal about an ambulance backing up to your door and having your dining room table used as triage.  Once again I found myself in the back of an ambulance.  By the way, you all look funny when you're driving behind an ambulance.  Long story short, Cohen was life flighted to a trauma center, that was a new experience.  I'll never forget that feeling of being led up to the helipad and the looks of concern I received.  There's something surreal about paramedics giving you updated medical reports in  your head set. In the end, he was fine and had a follow up that revealed narrowing of the spinal cord but has no ill affects of it today.

We went a couple more months and another call to the paramedics was made when one of T's seizures was not so routine.  Having 7 grown men in a small bedroom was quite a sight. 

We went naively about with our lives until one Halloween Day when a dog attacked Guthrie as he slept on the floor (not my dog, not my house).  It was a day that I counted on a good friend.  My husband was thousands of miles away.  Guthrie had many staples, one surgery and still bares the scars.  In the process I found out who I can count on and who my friends are.

A few months later, Cohen had dental surgery and then 4 days before moving we called the paramedics when he whacked his head and we couldn't stop the bleeding.  An ambulance ride and staples and Humpty Dumpty was back together again.  It's a funny thing when paramedics recognize you!  I hear since we left San Antonio and Dover that they have laid off medical personnel.

I was living blissfully in Rhode Island, proud of myself for having no ER visits when a morning call from the school nurse brought me back down to earth.  Guthrie had fallen off the playground equipment and broken his arm.  A cast?  This was new to me.

3 days later, count them, 1......2......3 days later, the same school nurse called to tell me Trevette had been injured.  He broke his nose. Good friends were there to answer my call for help and to laugh with us when they brought a huge roll of bubble wrap.  It's coming in handy.

Here I sit waiting for a call from Ortho.  I'm just glad I'm in a new state where they don't know my history or my name......yet. My friend Julie and I really should share a parking spot at the E.R.  I don' t like this drama, these life interruptions.  Thank you for my family and friends who shake their head, give me their condolences and then humor me!......Oh! and they don't judge me!  Life is never dull.....yet it's very routine for this house.  Good thing I have a good sense of humor!  But in reality I'll take the bumps and bruises any day......