June brings madness to Keeneville--shocker, I know. My 24/7 career, Justice in summer school, Cameron a handful of crazy and yes of course basketball camp. This is no regular high school roll out the ball summer fun camp. This is a month of intense daily practice, a weekend at QU followed by a 5 night/6 day on the road adventure. Living with Coach Keene the three weeks of preparation for this trip is like hell on earth. He adds his receipts up well over 100 times, he confirms, reconfirms and triple confirms his hotel reservations, he freaks out the players will not raise their money, goes over the itinerary with a fine tooth comb nightly, and analyzes his bank account daily--sometimes hourly. On a side bar, where did I go wrong at home. If you ask Coach Keene what bank we even personally bank at I bet he cant tell you...no really, I caught him once pulling out his debit card to see.
Day four of this single parenthood week and I am beat. Justice asked tonight, "is daddy coming home tomorrow? This is the last nighttime, right?" I said, "No, one more nighttime and he will be home." Justice replies with the most serious gesture, "What the hell, did they run out of gas?" I am thinking, no--but I am.
I have not been the happiest camper this June--again, shocker. Being a basketball family is not all rainbows and concession stand popcorn. Every year seems to get harder as the boys grow. Deep down I love it, but on the outer layer of life it's exhausting, everyday. I have to ask myself--quite often--is all this worth it? I wonder too, 15 years from now will we look back and say,"time well spent." This generation of kids expects "the big time" but does not appreciate the sacrifice it takes to get there. Positively sure would never acknowledge the sacrifice the coach's families makes daily, sometimes hourly, to get a W. Not asking for a pity party, but really evaluating all this crazy. You cant make this crap up. Seriously we would make one heck of a reality show. When I say its nuts 24/7 here, I am not kidding. Time is precious and I cant remember the last time I was able to quiet my mind and rest. My upstairs is constantly planning--meals, school clothes, Dr. appointments, more meals, babysitting, bills, work, basketball schedules, housework, and the list is monstrous. Sometimes I think I am a machine.
Well, counting the days down until July 26th. No, not the fact that its my 8 year anniversary with Coach Keene-but that I have accrued 3 weeks vacation at work and I plan to take it. I am the planner, so if we are going somewhere the first week of August--because that's pretty much all we will have--I better get to googling. Not only is my gas tank on empty, but so is the computer battery. Night--its almost July!
