The Upcoming Weekend

There really is not much to update, but I will share what’s going on and how we plan to spend the Memorial Day Weekend.

We are simply living life as normally as possible. The same priorities remain—school, work, friends, lacrosse, gymnastics, and swimming (in no particular order). The girls continue to thrive and are passionate about everything they do. Sandy is getting along very well and able to attend all the kids’ activities.

People are eager to know how she is doing. You probably struggle with what to expect, just as we do. I really can’t give you much guidance there. If you live nearby, you probably see that she is still driving car pools and socializing with friends. If you don’t live nearby or have not seen her in a while, you would probably be surprised at how well she is doing. She is thin and tired, but Sandy probably has the busiest social schedule she has ever had. She also spent most of yesterday cleaning Hannah’s drawers and closet. A few days before that, she spent most of two days doing the same for Haley. That is a lot of lifting and hauling stuff for someone facing the challenges that she is. I help where I can, but she seems to want to work herself and usually does it while I am at work. She also doesn’t like the way I do laundry, so we’re both constantly jockeying to see who gets the next load in the washer.

Sandy has developed a new energy about her, a resolve to do these types of things. I don’t know if she thinks she’s helping the rest of us or she just can’t stand the mess. Either way, the girls and I understand and appreciate the help. Now, if I can only get her to clean MY closet …

The girls’ Towsontowne lacrosse team finished the season in a tie for 2nd place (among 18 teams?) and advances to the MYLA playoffs. Their first round playoff game is Thursday, so you know where we’ll be. It should be a good game with the teams well matched.

This should be a great weekend—the NCAA National Championships (women’s lacrosse, of course!) will be played in Towson. Northwestern beat Princeton over the weekend to earn its fourth straight appearance in the Final Four. The previous three trips resulted in national championships, and we’re lucky enough that this one is right in our back yard. Northwestern meets Syracuse in one semifinal game on Friday, followed by Duke vs Penn. The final is on Sunday, NU vs ___ (we hope!).

If you have ever seen this blog before, you know where our alliance is. If Hannah is cut, it bleeds purple and drips straight down to her purple turf shoes, and we’re not far behind her. As if Hannah’s allegiance to NU needed any encouragement, her relationship with the Wildcats’ Hannah Nielson—who has long been her favorite college player—has certainly cemented it. Hannah N reached out to Hannah H over the winter and the two have developed a fantastic friendship. Hannah shared with me that when her team was going into a big game a couple of weeks ago, she emailed Hannah N and asked for advice on how to rally her team. It was great to see her leveraging that advice with her teammates before that game. When Hannah and I went to Chicago for the weekend, we met Hannah N and the team’s goalie, Morgan Lathrop, for dinner. You could not ask to meet two nicer people and we both really enjoyed them. Hannah and Morgan and the rest of the team welcomed us to their tailgate following the win against Vanderbilt, as they have done before. You would expect a team like this to have impressive athletes, and they do. They also have women of extremely high character, who are friendly, warm, smart and fun. I am grateful that our girls have role models like this in a sport that they love.

You don’t have to be a lacrosse fan or a Northwestern fan to appreciate this article from last week’s Sports Illustrated, but it sure doesn’t hurt.

“Go West Young Lady”
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/05/06/lacrosse0512/


Now you know how we’ll spend much of our weekend. We’ll be camped in the stands as a family surrounded by friends watching these incredible teams battle it out in a national championship. I hope the weather holds—Go Wildcats!