Hubby and I were in Washington State visiting family April 15-24. Our daughter and son-in-law, Amy and TJ, had to go away for a few days, and needed us to supervise the grand kids. They’re good kids, so we really only needed to be there to chauffeur them around to various activities, make sure they ate, bathed, slept, didn’t kill each other, etc. Most evenings were pretty busy.
Tuesday evening, Brianna had a lacrosse game in Bellevue, roughly 30 miles north of their home in Auburn. Depending on timing, the drive could take 45 minutes or two hours. The game got pushed back to an 8:00 PM start to avoid traffic delays.
We didn’t have to go, since she had to ride the team bus, but I wanted to go. I know nothing about lacrosse, but hadn’t seen her play for several years. They’ve lived in Washington for three years already!
The last time I saw Brianna, now 15 and in her first year of high school, play any sport was for a recreational/club team. It was really quite surreal seeing her playing lacrosse for her high school. They have real uniforms, and coaches, and play in fancy stadiums with lights and everything. And since she’s just a freshman playing on the varsity team, which is awesome, she looked so young out there playing amongst the older girls.
Mentally, it doesn’t seem like that long ago when I was playing high school sports, and now my granddaughter is playing? Weird. But cool.
I mean, how’d she grow up so fast?
Look at this cute pic from 2008.
I didn’t get many decent pics that first night, but she also had a daytime game on Saturday in Tacoma.
She was on the sideline when I reached the stadium, about halfway through the game (I don’t even know if there’s such a thing as half-time.) Apparently, she scored in the first part of the game before I arrived.
I’m really proud of Brianna. She’s right on the cusp of womanhood, and is turning into quite a nice young lady.
There’s so much we miss, with the grand kids living so far away. Little things they wouldn’t think to tell you about. Like, when a teammate got taken out by the opposing team, Brianna was the first one to run over and ask if the girl was okay, retrieved her teammate’s stick, and talked to her ’til the coach arrived.
Or when, after practice one night, I overheard Brianna giving an older teammate, who I gathered was feeling quite discouraged about her recent on-field performance, a pretty grown-up sounding pep talk. She’s really becoming such a lovely person.
As I’m sure her Mom would say, she has her moments. Don’t we all? But persevere, do your very best as a parent, and give a kid a strong foundation, as Amy and TJ have for all of their children, and they will eventually grow into amazing adults. Just like our kids have.
The grand kids were on their best behavior all week. Really. Their parents must have laid down some pretty hefty threats to get them to behave for poor, old G (that’s me) and Pop. LOL.
Here are some pics of the super-cool stadium where Brianna played on Saturday.
The game was at Stadium High School in Tacoma. (Click that link if you want to read a bit about the history of the very cool-looking school.)
The grand kids will be coming here for a visit in June. I’m already looking forward to that, but really start need to thinking of things we can plan to keep them busy! Being busy is key. 🙂
That first shot of Brianna is fantastic!
This post made me tear up a bit for some reason. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, but I can’t take credit for the first shot. It’s her official lacrosse photo, done by a photographer. They arrived in the mail while we were there. Although I DID take a picture of a picture, so there’s that. 🙂
The “tearing up” was probably because you read between the lines and realized that being so far from you makes me a bit sad, too. I am glad you are happy in San Diego, but don’t like that we’re so far away. We’ll be closer one day.
She sounds like an awesome young woman. Be proud, I am sure her parents are.
What a great post and experience! Our grandkids are all 8 and under, but it still seems like they are growing up so fast! And so much fabulous scenery…can’t wait to see more of the west coast!