December 14, 2009

Hoops, Hockey Stops and Hanukkah


This was one of those weekends I dream about. Nothing unusual happened, no tough conversations with teachers, coaches or Alex. Just an ordinary weekend in the life of our extraordinary daughter. Let’s keep it up!

Alex had three basketball games this weekend. The JV game on Friday was home so John was able to get there by 4:00. I have difficulties leaving work before 5:30 and did not get there until the end of the game. Thus this is John's recount.

According to John, Alex played about six minutes and was passed the ball four times. Twice she caught the ball and passed it on. Twice she missed - 50% success rate - not bad in my book. There was even an Alex play - she was given the ball, the girls blocked the defenders and urged her to shoot. I think she was so surprised - this was last year’s play; she lost focus, the ball was stolen and the opportunity lost. Our Lady Longhorns won, and Alex played. Definitely an upswing!

Saturday, the C team went away to play two games. We sent Alex on the bus at 5:50 AM and stayed home. Funny how Alex does not mind riding the school bus to basketball games – she just won’t ride it home. When we picked Alex up in the late afternoon she shared she played in both games. The Lady Longhorns won one and lost one – but beyond that the details get a bit hazy. Lucky me, there is a home game today!

Sunday was our first day of skiing this year. Not only was there a couple feet of new snow on the ground – it was still snowing hard and very windy! I was not too optimistic about a successful day on the mountain.

We tried to get to Challenge Aspen early to get Alex set-up with her new buddy – but life on Alex time is quite challenging at times. We did arrive only 15 minutes late, but Alex still had to get ready. Anyone who skis knows this is not an easy task – ski pants, boots, gloves, goggles and helmet can take a while. This was particularly true in our case because Alex’s ski pants did not fit her this year. This really disturbed me – she has gained so much weight that her very loose ski pants did not fit. Yuck!!! We had to find some to borrow until I can get her to the store.

We sent her off with a great new buddy – Katie. Katie was enthusiastic and seemed to get Alex almost right away. They had a great day together and managed to do a bunch of runs – despite the winds. Alex practiced her hockey stops, worked on her turns and they raced each other. These two girls had more stamina and bravery than I did on this very blizzardy day.

My skiing day consisted of being pushed, pulled, dragged and towed across the mountain by 50 mile per hour winds and blinding snow storms. We even had the excitement of getting stuck on the thrashing chair lift due to wind dangers. Not so fun for me – John enjoyed the POWDER though. Two out of three successes is 66%, things just keep picking up!

Our last event of the weekend was a Hanukkah party. John’s family is Jewish. When we lived in IL we celebrated Hanukkah as well as all the other holidays with his family. I have missed this in CO – I appreciate that my children are half Jewish and I want them to be able to embrace this faith. I also happen to love latkes. The party was great, we enjoyed the food, the company and the dreidels. Plus, I got 100% of my latke allotment for the year. Great in my book.

Sometimes it feels so good to be “normal”.

2 comments:

  1. That sounds like an amazingly busy weekend! THREE games? Skiing? Party? (I'd be there for the latkes too)

    Wonderful!

    ReplyDelete

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