I’m going to cut to the chase. May sucks. There is blog after blog calling out the trials and tribulations of what is now termed “Maycember”. They are all hysterical and so very true! The Holderness Family Maycember Medley is my favorite!
The end of the school year when everything, and I mean everything wraps up at the exact same time is enough to put any mother OVER THE EDGE.
In one week my family (AKA ME!) has participated in 3 school performances, a dance recital, school carnival, basketball tournament, baseball tournament, my middle child’s birthday and party, a fundraiser dinner, a committee wrap up party, and PTA end of the year luncheon. This does not include making costumes for some of the above, setting up for the carnival, working the carnival, bringing snacks to baseball, managing homework (why is this still happening?) or making 100 ham sandwiches to represent the state of Virginia. Yes, I’m exhausted. This is on top of actually trying to mother and not just be an uber driver. The kids also have to be fed…AGAIN.
We don’t actually choose for it to be this way. Any SANE person, which I think I am, knows this is cray cray. But it’s like a hamster wheel you can’t get off of for a month. You want to resist it but you know your 10 year old is not making 100 ham sandwiches. So, you put your head down, get out the bread, and keep a bottle of wine open on the counter, and you push thru.
Then comes the day when the DOUBLE ELIMINATION tournament starts. All the baseball moms out there KNOW what I’m talking about. Spring baseball season brings all types of fun: cold weather, windy weather, rainy weather, rain delays, rain cancellations (over and over), warm weather, and finally, sweating through your underwear weather. And most days there are no bathrooms, no concession stand and bugs. Lots of bugs. But hey… it’s for the kids! It is supposed to be FUN!
The dads come out in swarms, hoping their kid is going to be the next Babe Ruth. I have never seen so many parent volunteers in one place in my life. Perhaps all the school carnivals can take place on the baseball fields and we can scoot the dads into the hot dog or drink booth to work after the game. Lucky for me, the league we are in seems to have more nice people than crazy ones and the encouragement and discipline is age appropriate. Aside from that one mother who is bellowing, “You are running like a walrus, Sam! Go faster!” (Give me a break, ok? it’s May! And he is SLOW! #truth)
But when the DOUBLE ELIMINATION tournament starts, you see the all your ghosts of Mays past start to haunt you again. You have just gotten through the first two weeks of insanity and now you are faced with a winner AND a loser bracket! It is going to take FOREVER. Seriously, they are seven and eight years old. They will never remember. Let’s wrap it up with single elimination and call it a day! I’m hot, cold, tired and need a clean bathroom and some Wi-Fi! But all those babe Ruth dads out there are IN IT TO WIN IT!
If you are on a winning team, well, this is just fantastic! The kids are happy, dads are high fiving, moms are cheering, grandparents are cooing. But, when you are losing, the loser bracket is a very lonely place…and everyone is getting snippy. The kids know they are in the dreaded LOSER bracket and as a mom you are spewing every word of encouragement that comes to mind. Now that people are politically correct and sensitive about EVERYTHING, you would think they would just call it the A and B bracket. But, nope, we are going to stick with 1980s vernacular when we called it like we saw it. LOSER.
So we plug along. If you lose twice you are out. If you win, you keep on playing. The TOP loser gets a chance to win it all. Inspiring, just like the movies! But without the camera crew. We moms are just TORN. We want our loser to have a chance of being a winner after all. But we also just want to go home. Until August. This tug of war with your mom emotions, which are already heightened because it is MAY, fills you with dread. What if they lose again? How sad! But what if they win? I. JUST. CAN’T. TAKE. IT. But that feels so selfish. So for the last two weeks of May, you vacillate between being the best and worst mother of all time. The struggle is real.
Double Elimination… it’s not for the faint of heart. You hunker down, wear your bug spray and count the days. The end of May is like the bottom of the 9th inning with the bases loaded. Win or lose it’s almost over. Summer is on the horizon and with that comes the next sport in the lineup… summer swim team. More competitive parents, high fiving and cheering… but at least there is a cabana bar with cocktails and it’s not in May!
Amen, Sister! I feel you!!! Double elimination! Why? Why? Why?!!!!