The Best Weekend Ever

Is it possible to identify the best weekend of your life?  

The memory dims over time.  Then, of course, there's recency bias.  I'd like to think I've had a lot of great weekends in my life.  But I'm not sure I can think of one that tops last weekend.

Jude and JP traveled with the MBA varsity cross country team to Cary, NC, for the NXR Regional Championship.  I stayed with Joe, whose Armada soccer team had a tournament in Murfreesboro.  

It was great to have some one-on-one time with Joe.  It always is, actually.  He's special.  So funny, so happy and still, so innocent.  As I've written before, there's a sweet spot for boys, I think, that runs from ages 10 - 12.  Still impressionable and not yet cynical, mostly because if you're lucky, the harsher realities of life had yet be set in stone.  There is a lack of emotional complexity, I think, at that age.  Things are good or they're bad, happy or sad, etc.  Most everything is black and white, not grey.  

Friday night, Joe and I went to the USN high school production of The Wizard of Oz, mostly because our next door neighbor, Erin Joyce, was starring as Dorothy.  We also wanted to see Olivia Westfall, JP's former classmate, whom we had heard stole the show last year in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  

After an early dinner at Central BBQ - nothing to write home about - Joe and I checked in and queued up early, so we would be first into the auditorium and in line for good seats.  Our plan worked to perfection, as we ended up on the front row, next to Erin's mother, Maureen, and her guests.  Joe's classmate, Bruce, sat next to Joe.  

To say we were dazzled by the performance is an understatement.  Erin was magnificent.  I wasn't surprised, not really, because for several years I have said that Erin will be president one day.  Since we have known her, she has been precocious, thoughtful, intelligent, responsible, well rounded, and accomplished.  

Still, to see Erin up on stage, performing, was breathtaking.  I mean, Erin was Dorothy.  She inhabited the character so wholly, so completely, that at times, Joe and I forgot that she was our next door neighbor and that we'd known her since she was 10 years old.  Her facial expressions alone as other characters spoke or sang demonstrated an intensity in her performance that was marvelous to observe.  Her singing, too, was exquisite.  I couldn't stop smiling as I watched Erin perform.  Amazing.

Joe and I saw Olivia Westfall, whom I have known since she was in kindergarten with JP, before the show. She said hello a little shyly, then posed for a photo with Joe, after which I talked to Olivia's mom, Annie.  Annie and I grew up and went to high school together. 

Having spent a brief moment with Olivia before the show is part of what made seeing her on stage, performing, as the wicked witch of the west, so startling.  The transformation from the Olivia I have known for so many years to the cackling, green skinned, frightening witch was something I will never forget.  Joe and his friend, Bruce, were astonished and a little frightened when she appeared on stage for the first time in a puff of smoke.  I did not see a trace of the girl I knew.  She looked and sounded completely different, which was part of what was co captivating about Olivia's performance.  Quite literally, she was a different person on stage.  

It was and night to remember.  Joe enjoyed himself immensely, which was awesome, because initially he has some doubts about spending 2 + hours at a play.  He loved it, though, and I did, too.   

For the soccer tournament, Joe's Armada team was divided into two squads, Red and Blue.  Joe played goalie for the Red team.  For perhaps the first time, he appeared completely comfortable in his role.  In both games on Saturday - two wins for Armada - he played decisively, confidently, and aggressively.  He made good decision with the ball and, really, just owned the position.  He was a leader from the position, which is what I think you want your goalie to be.  Joe was vocal - certainly, not anything new to him - and he communicated precisely where he wanted his defensemen to be on every play.  

It was by far the best I've seen Joe play as a goalie.  As I texted to Jude and JP, in NC, Joe played like a boss.  Coach Thomas called Joe the MVP of the day after the second game and I think he was right.  Joe was proud of his performance, as he should have been.  At one point, he stopped a penalty kick, guessing correctly that the right footed kicker would kick the ball to Joe's right.  His stop fired up the team and the parents.  Maybe for the first time, I could see Joe playing more soccer, at goalie, down the line.  Who knows?

The team played well, offensively and defensively.  Coach Mario's influence appears to be taking hold, as the boys passed the ball well to each other and played a game that looked like, well, real soccer, even to a novice like me.  The beautiful game?  Maybe.  Certainly, it was more beautiful than so many of their other games.  The boys were aggressive and physical and really shared the ball well. 

On Sunday morning, Armada Red lost, 1 - 3, to a good team that had one outstanding player.  Joe allowed a soft goal in the second half, which disappointed him, but it was a good outing.  He wasn't quite as sharp as the night before but it was a good, close, and competitive game.  Joe shed a few tears after the loss which I was okay with because he desperately wanted to lead his team into the championship game for the first time and it didn't happen.  

Joe and I drove back from Murfreesboro straight to Dose on Murphy Road, so I could have my morning coffee and he could have hot chocolate.  As we settled in, Jude began texting us updates from the cross county course in Cary, NC, as the teams were warming up then gathering at the starting line.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to find a live feed on the internet.  As we sat in Dose, Jude texted me that the race had started and MBA was in 7th or 8th place, with Farragut in 3rd place.  Then, crickets.  It was like they were crossing the dark side of the moon and had lost all radio contact.  

Joe and I nervously sat at our table waiting on an update from Jude.  Finally, I texted her.  She wasn't sure where MBA was in the race but she had heard from one of the others that one or more of McCallie's runners had struggled and maybe left the race.  That turned out not to be true, although one of McCallie's runners did collapse running up the hill on the home stretch to finish the race.  That actually happened.

Shortly after the race finished, Jude called me.  She excitedly told me that she and the other mothers had run into Coach Russ, who was beaming.  Unofficially, MBA had finished in 2nd place, beating Farragut and McCallie (both state champions).  I was momentarily stunned.  Awestruck, really.  However, based on past experience, I didn't want to celebrate until I someone gave me the official results.  It's very easy, especially at a race like the Nike NXR Regionals with 264 runners, to get incorrect information on who finished where, how many points a team has, etc.  

I texted my friend, Austin, who ran cross country on scholarship at Notre Dame and is well connected with the local, regional, and national track communities.  He already was on-line, on the Nike NXR Regionals website.  He called me and affirmed that MBA had finished in 2nd place and by a considerable margin over Vestavia Hills.  Austin's news clinched it for me and I grinned at Joe in disbelief.  

"They did it!" I said.  "They qualified for Nationals in Portland, OR!"  

I'm not sure who was happier, Joe or me.  I hugged him tightly and we laughed.  Nationals!

In part because we had so much to be thankful for, I made the decision on the spot that Joe and I would try to make it to church at St. Patrick, even though it meant we would arrive a little late.  We rushed home from Dose, changes clothes, hopped in my truck, and beat feet to St. Patrick, 10 minutes or so away from the house.  

As I sat in church on a glorious Sunday morning, at the end of a perfect weekend, I kept thinking about how much I have to be thankful for.  I'm so blessed to have the family I have and for my boys to have the success they are having, at school and in sports.  On top of that, they're such great boys.  After communion, my cell phone buzzed and I looked down and saw that it was JP calling.

I nudged Joe and told him I would be right back.  Hustling to the back of the church and outside, I answered the call.  JP, as excited as he gets, told me he was in the tent after the race signing up for Nationals.  He needed to confirm my e-mail address to make me the contact person on his paperwork.  Just talking to him, I could tell how proud and happy he was, not just of his performance (15:53), but of the MBA team's, as well (four runners under 16:00).  

I'm going to write more, later, about this team and their amazing performance at the Nike NXR Regionals.  A lot more, probably.  

But in that moment, on that glorious Sunday, at the end of the best weekend ever, I was so happy.  JP and his MBA cross country team is going to Nationals!  Truly, a once in a lifetime experience.  Incredible!

Joe and I stopped for lunch at Dicey's, a newish pizza joint near St. Patrick.  Every few minutes, Joe and I grinned, laughed, and said "Nationals!"

The best weekend ever?  Maybe it was for an old dad like me.