It's Official...

I now join the ranks of thousands (dare I say, millions...) of women who have gone before me. I am officially a Soccer Mom! I bet you were expecting something a bit different, right? It's just that you hear the description "soccer mom" so often and I have a vision in my head of who that is describing. Today as I took Ella to her first day of a six week soccer camp I realized, oh my goodness, I'm a soccer mom! Now I'm not running a carload of kids to and from games with a stash of gatorade and oranges in the trunk, but I've taken the first step in that journey. Kind of scary. As much as I love soccer I never saw myself as the soccer mom. I always saw myself as the coach. Which, hopefully as the kids get older, I will be. First and most importantly, one or hopefully both of my girls will have to like soccer enough to warrant me being their coach.

Today reality hit when I realized that Ella was not going to step onto the soccer "field" and be transformed into an instant star. I don't think I really thought that would happen, but deep down a little tiny part of me wondered if when she got the chance she would prove to be a natural. Not a natural. At least not at age three! I don't think I was brave enough to play soccer until I was in third grade. Ella has inherited some of my tendencies towards shyness so I was very proud of her for getting out there and not crying (I imagine I would have at age three) and being excited to go back the next week. She was definitely timid and nervous and had a hard time listening and was usually pretty far behind everyone else. I'm sure it was a number of factors - the big truck that was digging and spreading dirt 30 feet away that made Ella nervous, being in a totally new situation with kids she'd never met before, or having two coaches with English accents (who knows, maybe she couldn't understand them!). Even though she may never have the interest in soccer that I did, it's exciting for her to be at the age when she can start to try new things.

As for Catherine, I had to drag her off the field. She wanted to be out there with the rest of them. Maybe she's the natural....hmmm...just a few years till we find out! Just kiddding!!!

Sorry no pictures to post - Ella looked quite cute in her soccer gear but I can't find the camera....bummer.