We knew it would happen, right? We knew, if Will started coaching wrestling again it wouldn't be long before he would want to wrestle himself. He just doesn't like to stay on the sidelines. He likes being in the action.
So no surprise, surprise, Will is wrestling again for this club season. He had a tournament today and I took Adell and Colter down to watch him wrestle in San Jose. Colter has never seen Will wrestle (outside of the roughhousing kind they do together every day) and Adell was a six-month-old baby last time Will wrestled...so it was really a whole new experience for both of them.
The kids got to see Will kick some butt and get really sweaty. They were curious and wanted to ask him lots of questions between matches.
They also wanted to try out the rock climbing wall in the gymnasium. They got to do everything they wanted.
It is fun to watch Will wrestle again. I understand the sport a little bit better so I know what is happening (kind of). He is in amazing physical shape and that is fun to see (wink-wink). It is cool to see him do something I think is so crazy! Return to such a physically demanding sport after nearly a ten-year break, to lose a bunch of weight to be able to wrestle, to train and sweat and hurt all for the love of competition. I don't think he does it all just for the love of competition or the sport, he has lots of reasons but he does love wrestling. He wants to DO the things he loves, not just watch them. Way to go, Will, we are so proud.
A weird, cool, happy thing happened for me this day I took the littles down to see Will wrestle. We had to drive about 45 minutes south to San Jose, parking was unavailable and we had to park in the residential neighborhoods a few blocks away. We had to make our way from the car to the high school where the tournament was. It was no big deal. I felt confident and sure I could do all of those things. As the day progressed it came to light that Will's car was not going to have enough charge (he drives an all-electric Honda Clarity) to get back home. I offered to take the car to a charging station and let it charge while we grabbed a bite to eat. So Will found a charging station, we made our way there (it was not easily located) and then found a Panda Express nearby for lunch/dinner. Here was the weird, cool, happy thing: I did it all with zero freak out. I navigated the streets in a strange city. The kids squawked and chirped in the back seat. We parked and got the car charging. We walked through the city and crossed an eight-lane street (basically a freeway) to get to the restaurant. We enjoyed a stress-free meal. We made our way back and delivered the car to Will so he could come home at the end of the tournament.
Why was this such a big deal? Because it is something I did all the time with the big kids when they were little except I was a total basket case. I was internally FREAKING OUT every second of the adventure. Driving in a new city = possible car crash because I'd be distracted by the squawking children in the back. Walking along city streets = possible death of my children for wandering into the road. Ordering food out = relief tempered by guilt for spending money wastefully. It was a roller coaster of emotions with only steep dives and loopdy-loops. It was only stressful and infuriating. When we were done with these adventures I would cry and swear I was never leaving the house again. It was awful.
But that's ok. I was doing the best I could with the tools I had at the time. I still took my kids out and we still did fun things. I was a basket case and that's ok. I love me for doing all of that and being that way. But I'm different now...and that's ok too. I love the old me and the new me. I enjoyed feeling love and pride for my old self and my new self. I snapped a selfie to remember how the old me would have felt like dying in this moment but the new me was just fine. And both mes get stuff done, take kids on adventures, and rock motherhood the best way we know how. Good job me, I love you.
I look awesome, I know. A couple of other side notes: Adell's flip flop was about to snap. We fixed it with a bandaid so she could walk to Panda Express. We were all so impressed with our ability to cross a road with eight lanes of traffic. Colter and Adell were wowed that people were allowed to walk on these types of roads. It felt big and scary but we did it.
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