Ten 6th-8th grade girls have changed my perspective for the better and taught me so much in 3 short months. What could grade school girls possibly teach a 26yr old? Well that’s simple. Patience. Selflessness. Sportsmanship. How to be a role model. And my favorite lesson was it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
Coaching this summer was the best decision I’ve made. Teaching and watching those girls grow in their skills and as young adults has been a great pleasure! We may have only won one game but those girls never gave up. They fought each game as hard as they could and came together as a team. They took our advice and respected us and each other throughout the process. It wasn’t always easy but it was definitely worth it.
One of our first games we lost 2-25. We had a chance to play that team again last night in the first round of playoffs and even though we lost we fought for every play and made them work for every run and the final score was 5-11. To see that growth and unity after only a few short weeks was awesome! They have changed me. They have showed me that I need to stop being so selfish with my time. Be more patient. And to keep smiling even though I didn’t get what I wanted. They were a fresh breath of air for me.
I also realized this Friday when I was swimming with my cousin’s 10yr old daughter. She was at my grandma’s the day before and asked me if I wanted to go swimming. I said I couldn’t because I didn’t have a swimming suit with me at work. (who does lol) But she is very persistent and said she would come back tomorrow and I will bring my swimming suit so we could swim on my lunch break. So I did as I was told and brought my swimming suit and headed up to my grandma’s on my lunch break. She was so excited when I got there and she was showing me the different water games we could play and the whole time I was thinking “We can’t play that, I don’t want to get my hair wet”. We settled on a game where I threw different objects and then she had to find them and get them to me while I timed her. Thirty minutes into our “swim”, my hair was dry and I was happy about that but I wasn’t having fun. It was exhausting trying to keep my hair dry and planning out what work I was going to do the rest of the afternoon.
She asked me what I wanted to do next and I said show me your best cannon ball. When she responded what’s that, she got my full attention. I said you have never been taught how to do a cannon ball? She shook her head no and then the 10 yr old girl in me came out to play. I spent the next 30 minutes jumping in and out of the pool as I taught her how to execute a perfect cannon ball. And even though I walked back into the office dripping wet, it was worth it because as I was leaving her she came running over and gave me a huge hug and said thank you!
I can’t believe I almost let that moment slip through my fingers just because of “busy life syndrome.” The moral of this blog is I didn’t realize that I’m not in the moment. I’m everywhere but where I’m actually at. So I would like to challenge everyone who is reading this to live IN the next 24 hours. We all have mile long to do lists, some are running kids, others night class after work and some are just battling to stay alive. But one thing we all have in common is while we are busy trying to make a life for ourselves we are missing our lives. No matter what it is you will be doing the next 24 hours make sure it is getting your full attention because you don’t want to miss an important moment God has given you because you were busy checking fb or worrying about getting your hair wet!! ; )
xo
