March 26, 2024
Hi, Olivia,
Your soccer note tonight hit me
like a ton of bricks. I was overwhelmed with sadness; I re-lived a
decade of memories in the blink of an eye.
Your grandmother and I
were with you from your first days with Kiki in Belmont / Boston. And
then the transition from Massachusetts to Texas. Year after year after
year of driving you to soccer practice and going to so many games in all
kinds of weather and to see the pinnacle of success last year when, as a
junior, you were named (a) captain of the team and took your team to
state.
With public school soccer, club soccer, and ODP soccer,
we drove you to so many practice fields and soccer stadiums. So many of
my most wonderful memories are of our longer trips to practice fields,
like Rockwell (ODP) about 45 minutes east of here. I got to learn the
geography of Texas by taking you to soccer events and Arianna to
water-polo practice and tournaments. I remember so many little things
about all those trips, I think you would be surprised.
I did not
know you had a game tonight. I was upset that we were not there, but
grammy said it was an “away-game” and instead we went to watch Sophia
play her game in Oak Grove Park. I remarked to Sophia on the way through
Grapevine that the trip out to Oak Grove brought back so many memories
of driving you to the same soccer field for practice and for games.
Little did I know that while remembering those trips, you were playing
what would be your last game.
And, then watching Sophia play.
Oh, my goodness, she looked just like you and played just like you when
you were her age. Sophia has said many times she learned so much from
watching you; she was always so appreciative of the time you spent with
her teaching her soccer. And, wow, she looked just like you tonight.
You
mentioned you were the only one to score a PK point tonight in your
last game. Ironically, Sophia also scored the only point for her team,
in a game, her team also lost. Sophia was so thrilled with scoring that
only point, winning/losing that game did not matter.
You brought
us years — a decade —of wonderful memories through soccer. It’s going
to take me a long time to get over my sadness.
Papa
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