things just don't always go as planned....and they didn't warn me Saturday so it's not my fault...mostly....

It started with a conversation at dinner Thursday. Soccer and Ultimate frisbee. Both on Sundays. I mentioned the soccer league to a friend at work and he said they had one in Chesapeake on Saturday afternoons, coed. He said he would send the info to me. So Saturday morning I'm up at my usual 5am for some reason, writing in the blog, doing chores and getting ready for winefest, making a list of stuff and putting things together in a backpack. The emails came in about the games a little after 8am. Basically, be there at the field at 3:30 to get on a team. My calculations were fairly simple, get to winefest, spend a couple of hours sharing a couple of bottles of wine, leave about 2:45, suit up and play soccer, go to dinner with my friend and his family, then share a movie with a another friend. Innocent right? Was planning to sleep in Sunday, which sadly means until around 7am or so, get my son in the afternoon, then play ultimate pickup games in Norfolk near ODU.

So what really happened?

Well, got to winefest and the weather was cold and drizzly. It wasn't crowded. I grabbed two bottles and settled in to talk to folks, take pictures, and stuff. At 2:45 I leave for the soccer field. I get there right on time and find the organizer, Mindy. I get selected for a team, but it isn't my friend's team. So I'm watching the first game and few things occur to me. First, it is nearly a full sized field. Not like the indoor soccer I played in the winter. In fact, I haven't played soccer on a full sized field since I was in fifth grade. Um, 1979 or so. The other thing I see is people limping on the field after being kicked in the shins. They have shin guards on. I don't even own such things. At 6'2", with broad shoulders, I generally rely on the intimidation factor to keep people from kicking me. No one ever tries to run me over either. It worked in indoor soccer. I decided to head to Wal-Mart to get some though. I had time. Or so I thought. It really wouldn't have been a problem, except I spent more time in line than getting there and back. Rebecca writes often about Wal-Mart Navigation in Tulsa, OK I think. She should have been here for this. Aside from the whole calamity of cascading errors at the register for the people in front of me...I didn't really pay attention to street signs on the way out. I didn't run but one or two people off the road going the wrong way getting out. I bent a few other rules on those wide open back country roads out that way too. I made it back in time, but just barely. I'm taking oxygen for the game next week. I need to start running again. I have all the grace of a stampeding elephant out there. Again, my only asset is the fear factor I bring when running straight at someone and it OBVIOUS I cannot stop. I'm going to cause grave damage if YOU don't move. My knees are not used to the quick stops and changes in direction you see. We won. I was not a factor in that at all, but I had serious fun and I loved every minute (even though I was a serious detriment to the team).

What happened after the game was not my fault. I didn't plan it. Nobody warned me, and they should have, because they knew.

"So, are you coming to AJ Gators?" Sure, why not. My friend and his family are trying to get into a monster truck show down on the beach. It isn't likely I'm going to catch up with them for dinner, so I figured I'll have some pub grub type stuff, a beer, and head over to watch a movie as planned. I'm flexible, my son is at his grandparents, so why not? We had a blast at Gators, and it just kept going. I got to talk with a number of other players, got to totally hose up what little German I know with one guy who is from Germany, had a couple of watered down margaritas (I'd rather pay full price and get a real margarita, I don't know why I did it) and helped with a few pitchers of Blue Moon. We were having a blast and it was becoming apparent I wasn't going to make it to the movie, at least not without assistance. The group then decided we needed to sing. So the entourage moved to a bar down the street that does Karaoke. The group decided it was time for a series of serious shots to lubricate the vocal cords. The group sang, danced, laughed, and had serious fun on the way back to sobriety. If I say "the group" then it is like mob mentality and takes the responsibility away from me right? When the lights came on at 2am, we moved to Ihop, talked, ate, etc.

My day started with good intentions, a good plan, at 5am. My day ended when I got back to the house at 4am. Some how, I need to figure out how to fill that last hour with something other than sleep! I did have a blast the whole day though. Made some new friends in the process. The friend that invited me out for soccer...knew about the group that goes to Gators....and he didn't warn me. I was unprepared. I'm going to talk to him at work Monday.

So, three hours after collapsing, I wake up and get moving again. I went back out to Chesapeake to see the family I was supposed to see the night before. We had breakfast, talked, I worked on some viruses on their computers, and played some basketball with my friend (totally ridiculous now, nothing like when we were in high school).

I did have a two hour nap this afternoon, worked on this, and now at 6pm, I'm going to get my son!

I hope you had as much fun this weekend as I did, and that yours was more restful.

Happy Mother's Day.

PS:
For the bonus round....I got to spend an hour with my son's great grandparents (his mother's grandparents). They are really amazing people. 90 years old this year. Always nice to see the world from their perspective.