Upward Farewell

        Basketball season is over!  At least for our little Upward kids.  This means that my 8 week commitment of coaching little girls in cheerleading has also come to an end.  And I'm so glad.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the little girls I got to meet and teach, but I'm not so sure it was a volunteer position quite in my wheel house.  The cheer part, yes. But the part that involves herding eight little 4 and 5-year-old girls like they were cats, not so much.  At any given moment during a practice or game, you could spot one or two girls sitting on the ground just too tired to go on (that was usually my daughter), another running around in the back of the stage trying to hide, another yelling through her megaphone backwards, and still another who needed a water break every few minutes.  It was comical, truly.  Of course there were times when they listened and cheered beautifully, just not all at the same time.  But they were so cute trying, what's a cheer coach to do?  The other volunteer who worked with me who (gulp) has five children of her own, and I decided just to laugh through our exasperation, all of the time.  Definitely a learning experience.  And Lanie has already shared with me that next year, she just wants to watch.  I don't Cheerleading is in her wheel house either. :-)

                   












To celebrate the end of the season, the UpWard commissioners set up a chance for the entire Upward group to attend a Rice University basketball game.  Some of the cheerleaders performed at halftime.  Not Lanie, she didn't want to.  The highlight, though incredibly short-lived for the amount of set-up,  was half-time when the coaches' kids got to create the tunnel for the players and slap hands. Too bad no in our family follows Rice basketball or it may have held even more weight.
         We stuck around and chatted with friends we only see during the season, but couldn't hold out for the whole game.  We left when Rice was trailing Tulane by 25 points.  Not a nail-biter at all but a nice ending to our two months of busy basketball Saturdays.

Now, I'm ready to sleep in and enjoy the ride of Spring activities. I tell you, There is just al-ways something.

Pre-game primping