A Miraculous Soccer Goal, A Treasure Box And A Birthday Dinner

Evie And Her Very OwnTreasure Box

Treasure Box Gifts From Evie's Sisters

Marlena Stuck

It's early and I am awakened by Nick taking a shower at 6:30, his bathroom is next door to our room. I stumble downstairs, and Mary is getting breakfast ready for Nick, packing his lunch.  Bella runs to pick up her toy, waits for me to sit down, then jumps up on my lap, for her morning petting.  Nick comes down, dressed up, asks his mom to help with his tie, has his breakfast and is off to school, on game day.   And so it goes, says Billy Pilgrim.

Marlena Scores

A Tangle of Sixth Graders with our #22 Marlena Getting in the Mix

Though yesterday was a Sunday morning, soccer knows no stops, so we had to be ready by 10:30 for a game in Kansas, a good forty five minutes away.  So, I took Bella for a walk around 9:00, making sure I was back in time for our departure time.  She was a good sport despite the hot weather, never wavered from the lead, and when she got home, she must have lapped up a pint of water.  We then drove to Marlena's game on Heritage Field, a group of eighteen soccer fields on what used to be a farm.  The fields were filled with soccer players of all ages and genders, so the parking lots were overflowing with hundreds of cars.  We got lucky and found a space quite near Marlena's field.  It was not much fun sitting in a 80+ degree sun watching sixth graders play soccer, though we had to sympathize with the players, who had to play in the heat.  Marlena's team hung in there, despite being behind 2-0 much of the first fifty minutes.  They finally scored in the 60th minute, making it 2-1, and then, the 'big moment.' Marlena went into the game, and with the grace of the Soccer Gods, nudged the soccer ball into the net on a cross,  to tie the score.  And the fans, especially Marlena's parents and grandparents went wild.  As she said after the game, "I looked up and there was the ball in front of my foot, so I booted it into the goal."  Ten minutes later, they scored again and ran off the field with a 3-2 win, happy with themselves, forgetting about the heat.  Nothing like a win to make you forget your miseries.  On the way home, we stopped, again, yes, at Costco, to pick up groceries for the week, plus some things for last night's special dinner, as well as a couple of pizzas for after Nick's game on Monday.

Evie, Marlena, and Evie's Sister Jean

Scrabble Coasters Made For Evie by Marlena and Mary

Around 4:00, Evie's sister Jean came over for dinner, and to help celebrate Evie's birthday since we were at the lake on September 19th.  And she brought along a treasure chest, like the one we have for grandchildren at Chautauqua, filled with presents for Evie to open, all from her sisters, Claire, Elaine and Jean.  We all sat around the 'treasure chest' as Evie opened all kinds of thoughtful presents for a 70 year old, like a magnifying glass, a wine stopper, and hot pink gardening gloves. Cool beans.
We then sat around and talked, watched football (what else do you do on a Sunday afternoon) until it was time for dinner.  Jean wanted to bring dinner, so she picked up New York strips at Costco,  and Tom grilled them outside, to go along with the mushrooms, Mac N Cheese, brussels sprouts, and salad, a great dinner.  And it was so nice out that we set up our table on Tom and Mary's deck once again, enjoying the cooling evening breeze, the lengthening shadows, as the sun began to set.  We had Nick's favorite dessert, compliments of Jean once again,  Dot's pound cake and some homemade peach ice cream, especially for Evie.  Neither lasted very long and I am having one of the last slices of the pound cake with my coffee as I write.

Jean went home around 8:30 and we may see her tonight at Nick's soccer game, for pizza afterwards. We sat around the rest of the evening as I helped Nick with a personal narrative essay which he was writing for English class.  Marlena worked on her homework as we watched, what else, more football till about 9:30 when we all went up to bed.  Both kids needed their sleep as well as the adults.  It's always a fun, busy weekend when we are in town.