The Concession Stand Won My Appeal

The Summary following week 2 of 2008 Friday Night Lights :

Friday morning's sunrise was beautiful. As my am schedule plays out, I usually have just finished getting breakfast (quiche and pancakes) on the table and lunch in the paper sacks when I notice the colors streaming in through the blinds. If I'm quick on my feet,--which i still am-- (Tee Hee) then I can open up the four blinds and take in the colorful landscape. My mom jobs for the first two kids at this point are done. As I saw them off, it would be a long day before I saw B (my #21) again. Tonight's ball game was sending us on the big road trip for the season: a beautiful community 2 1/2 hours away. Our departure time was 4:30pm, we only kinda knew where we were going, so we added a buffer. I was delighted we did. As we arrived, the school had a small stadium, reminding me of my own in high school. My middle son, (I'll call him Y) a freshman in high school, and I put down our stadium seats, my jacket and blanket and headed off to see what the concession stand might offer. Last week I had felt a twinge of a nervous tummy- food was undesirable. This week I was regretting not having packed some sandwiches. Y got a hotdog. I'm too old to eat those now, so I settled on some popcorn. The serving was stingy in size, but hot and salty, so the concession stand won my appeal.
As we watch the team warm up, it was still light outside. The sky had some faint pinkish colors, but mountains surround this community and thus robbed us of a sunset. The breeze picked up a little as I munched to the half-way point of my popcorn bag. I was glad I had worn a hairstyle suitable for a convertible. Important thoughts such as this, moths flying in a spazzy flight pattern, and the challenge of identifying the families sitting around us consumed the first half of the game. Gone was my intensity of trying to watch for B or figuring out the mistakes from the offensive or defensive coordinators, boredom had truly settled in. Our team looked weak. Awful at times.
Our defense and offense finally shook loose in the second half. We had a 35-24 lead with 2:07 to go in the fourth quarter. I scanned the huddle looking for #21 as I had noticed some shifting going on. Sure enough, B comes out of the huddle taking his place on the line of scrimmage. The first play was a run of sorts. Next play-balls snaps- flag- delay of game. Ball snaps again, QB kneels down- the game was over. My husband and I gave each other the yikes look (for B's benefit) and left the stadium.
I had a hard time staying awake on the way home yet feeling obligated so that my driver/husband too would stay awake and we would make it home. We had left our daughter (J) at Gma's, so we picked her up and made it to our house around 12:30am. As I gathered my "stuff" from the front seat, I thought 8 hours - wow - that was a chunk of time. We knew it would be. We actually deliberated about whether or not to even go. But I thought -two years from now, watching our kid on Friday night won't even be an option, so with little additional thought we agreed to go. Everyone quickly transitioned and was in bed within minutes.
I opened the window in my room that faces the driveway so I could hear the old 4-Runner coming down. At 1:45am I sprung out of bed. I opened the door with a somber "Hey B."
"Hey" he said back. He was in motion toward his room as he said "That was a waste of time." In a mid-night fog, I replied- "It's only a waste of time if you don't learn something from the experience." "G'night B".
"Night Mom".
I went back to bed thinking "Hey-not bad advice advice for nearly 2am". I sure hope this Friday night gig gets more interesting. Despite it all, I noticed the sunrise colors streaming through my bedroom blinds at 6:30 this morning. My body still hurts from all of yesterday's inactivity. I couldn't sleep. So I thought I'd tell you. Tell you what, I'm still not sure!! To be continued...