And then there were two...

You have seen me talk about Erin, the athlete. She is tall. She may peak at 12 like I did, but for her age, she is pretty tall. Long legs.  She had to have long legs. She had to grow in to the long toes she had when she was born.

Erin has always been athletic. She started at about 3 or 4 playing ball in the backyard with her babysitter, Meme, whose older son played sports at the local Jr. High level. Meme and her husband David told me that we should think about signing Erin up to play T-ball because she could throw the ball pretty well. I took Erin out to Alexandria to play, and thus this blog was born.

Originally it discussed my life as the mom of a t-baller who also worked a full-time job at the DMV...thus the web address. I changed the name of the blog after Erin decided that she didn't want to play softball anymore. I still say she is good at softball, and with the right leadership she would enjoy a long career of softball.

When Erin started kindergarten she learned how to play basketball, and she plays with the local youth league. She has the freedom to choose softball in the spring, but she always chooses basketball. She is growing in it. If she continues to learn from her coaches, she might have a spot on the high school team.  If they would play boys and girls together, they could have a dangerous team.

Meghan is the girly girl. She has never shown an interest in any sport. She would be the girl in the outfield blowing dandelions if she played anyway.  Meghan memorizes lines to movies, songs from movies, dramatic acts...she should take drama class in high school for sure.  Meghan shows interest in anything that has to do with nursing or medicine. She is a born boss. If she is not  a director of nursing or a doctor, she has missed her calling.

In the last year, Meghan has shown an interest in playing ball in the yard with us. She can hit the softball pretty well...from a pitch. She always runs to third instead of first, and she has a very short attention span when it comes to playing long-term games.

When Erin decided to sign up for basketball this year, Meghan said she wanted to also.  I tried to persuade her to be a cheerleader because of her love for dance, shouting, and her agility.  I thought that anything she did that was structured with rules and rehearsals would be good for her. A team sport where she was forced to interact with others was ideal...she can be such a loner so often entertained in her own world.  But basketball? This required some level of skill. Meghan loses patience if she can't write her name neatly, and she was going to play basketball where she would be required to ring a basket from the ground???

I signed her up. Mr. Wonderful takes the girls to practice every week. I had no idea how it was going. I took them to practice last week when I was having my Mental Health Day. She could practice for about 30 minutes. If anything else was going on in the gym, she was watching it instead of listening to the coach. He wasn't phased by it, but I was floored. After 30 minutes she was running to the restroom and getting water...this is the time they are going over the plays.

  The next practice I also got to witness.  Meghan was happy as long as she was shooting the ball.  She could actually ring the basket. I was impressed at her free-throw average. When it was time to run sprints; however, she let the others run around her while she continued to practice baskets. She would come over to me to talk to me. I had to tell her that she was a part of a TEAM and she had to do what they did...I'm thinking that was the coach's job, but since I am used to doing things for Mr. Wonderful, I did the coach that favor as well.  We learned that night that there would be a game this Saturday.  Was she ready? Was I?

Thankfully, youth leagues keep it simple. At the first game, they have a lot of kids who don't know what they are doing. They physically set the kids up. There is something hilarious about telling a tiny 5 year old with a blond braid down her back and a sweet expression to guard her man and use her game face.  One of Meghan's substitute teachers came early before her own daughter's game just to make sure she saw Meghan play.  Oh boy.

Meghan is not the smallest on her team. She doesn't have any idea what to do, but she catches on very quickly. She stays with her little blond-haired girl and guards her well. I just about expect them to hug when the game is over...or go skipping off to play patty-cake games.  Meghan is standing under the goal when the ball rebounds and lands on her shoulders. She grabs it. The force of the ball is so strong it knocks her down. She rolls over on top of it like she has seen Troy do the whole game. She stays there. REBOUND!!!!  Great job!  After this, she realizes that her knew job is to stand under the goal with her arms extended up waiting for the ball. The last play of the game she and Troy both grab the rebound and lay on the ball. It was covered on both sides. The other team had no chance of getting to it! By the end of the game, she was getting high-fives from the other team's coaches!!!

Erin, in her own right, played very well. She guards her man well. She uses her game face. She cheers her team on when she is on the bench. She got to be the point man. She gets the ball all the way down to the goal and passes it off because she didn't think she could make the shot...she was wide open, but she doesn't have a lot of practice shooting from the side angle. I know where we are going after church tomorrow.  She sinks her free-throws comfortably, and the coaches like to see her shoot.

Erin is about as tall as the two tallest boys on her team. One of them is the coach's son. We ran into them at Wally World one day before the first practice, and he said, "Dad, she is good. She sank her basket at try-outs and I didn't."

Me? I'm just having fun watching them having fun.