I have a small chalkboard in my kitchen. When I entertain, I will write messages or the menu on it. The message on it was over a year old, and I told Kayla....you need to change this message. Maybe that was not such a good idea, because it started a series of countdowns, and verbal updates of "lasts".Last school dance, Last softball season, Last homegame, last HS game. Only 6 more fridays, only 10 more B days. 3 weeks to seminary graduation, only a 2 weeks to graduation, no more fridays, Last final taken. AP exam finished, TOMORROW IS GRADUATION!
How can time change speed? I feel like I have been sucked into a time warp.
I think I am pretty good at a few things, but not so good at others. I have serious doubts about my parenting skills! I wonder what I have done to my kids that will land them on a therapists couch! I can think of quite a few :(
I always hope to "get it right" the next time! 2 out of 3 of my kids will be out of the house all too soon! It seems that about the time I feel like they like me....they leave.
I remember so well the day I found out I was expection Kayla. Totally shocked as we were on an adoption waiting list, because we thought we would never have another child. I remember the day she started kindergarten. I remember the first sport she played...soccer...in first grade. I saw then the love of athletics. I remember when she played rec softball. I saw then, frustration at mediocrity. I began to see signs of what was to come....the search for more of a challenge. We were so blessed to find Coach Sterling Hilton, who was her soccer coach on an accelerated team for 7 years. We also met Coach Kayelene Hornberger, and Coach Nelson Septon, and Coach Frank Brammall, and Coach Gordon Cook....all softball coaches for the last 10 years. I CANNOT remember all the lessons taught by all of these wonderful people who sacrificed, unpaid for time spent away from their own families, and helped mold and shape my Kayla. What I do know, is that the lessons went far beyond the field. They carried into the classroom, and into our home, and into Kayla's heart and life. I recently heard that a study was done at a major California University about how athletes brains function differently, and process information quicker that non athletes. I totally believe the findings. I watch it on a daily basis. I remember Kayla's first time at Camp. I watched as the spirit began to work in her life, and as she began to find a testimony independent of mine. I have watched Kayla become a champion of the underdog! Not just in sports. She cannot stand to see someone without friends. She will befriend anyone who is being treated unfairly. This also carries over to home....to the dogs!!!! If you say hello to one....Kayla will say....Mom...now say Hi to the others too! She is the fairness police!
Not only is she driven on the field, but in school as well. There have been times that I have said to her....."you do not have to do this project right this minute! You have time!" I can honestly say that I have never had to ask her if her homework is done. I KNEW it was! She is driven is all areas of her life. I am so thankful that she loves to learn, and wants a college education above all else. She even uttered the words...."College is more important than softball!" Really???? So happy that she is wise beyond her years!
Kayla is a wonderful softball player, but she is also a gifted writer! She has a blog that either makes me laugh, or cry!
www.ohxdarling.blogspot.com
I told her if she dosen't go into Sports science, she needs to go into english or writing!
Kayla is a natural born leader. At a tournament in Colorado a couple of years ago, She was chosen to play in an all star game. There were girls from many teams, from all over the US. I watched as she was the cheerleader on and off the field. I watched as she pumped that team up as they played. It goes without saying that most of the girls were bigger than she was, but she plays the game with a heart as big as all outdoors. From the time she was in kindergarten, her main complaint about school was......everybody always asks me quetions. She wasn't talking about the teachers! The other students knew who to ask. She was assigned a boy in one of her elementry classes, to peer tutor. It was a big job for a little girl, but she did it and did it well! Kayla does not like to disappoint anyone! She does not like to tell anyone "no". Well....accept me sometimes. LOL:)
I remember the feelings I had as High School came to an end. Overwhlmed at having to make decisions about the future, and not knowing which path to follow. Kayla has faced this decisions with some fear and trembling, but with a vision of where she wants to go, and forging ahead into the unknown with the same tenacity that she shows on the softball field.
As of tomorrow, no longer a T-wolf. I may do a little howling at the moon over this, but She will look down the road 3 months, where she will become a SEASIDER, at BYU-Hawaii. I know that as the end of her High School career is at hand, she can look back with satisfaction at her efforts, and accomplishments, and walk "the walk" with head held high. Ready...anxious....anticipating....the BEGINNING.....of the rest of the story.
Onward and upward little one....ALOHA!
