Soccer Saturday

Today being Saturday which means another soccer Saturday with the children. There is one more week left in the soccer season so I won't bore anyone with our soccer tales after next week. However; I still have two soccer tales to tell and here is the first one. Today started with a very early game (8:00 am) for my son's team. My son was dressed by 7:00 am and ready to go. Unfortunately most of the family didn't share my son's enthusiasm! We did make in time for his game with a few minutes to spare. For some reason my son had an extra bounce in his step this morning. I don't know if the other kids were still a little groggy but he was so much quicker than everyone else. This quickness resulted in seven goals by my son. Yes, you read that right SEVEN goals.

He was on this morning and he seemed to be everywhere on the field. I felt a little embarrassed after the fourth goal because my son was shooting from everywhere and his teammates didn't seem to be very involved. One of the other mothers turned to me and said it looks like it is Jonathan (my son) against the other team. She meant that in a complementary way and went on to say how good he is.

It really is amazing in more than one way what a difference a year makes. Last year my son seemed so uninterested in soccer and by the time his games were finishing last year he would sit on the sideline. My wife and I had to tell him to get back out there and finish the game. This year we can't get him off the field for anything. I was astonished at the transformation he has made in the past year. It also seems he is getting better and better by the week. Hopefully, he maintain his incredible enthusiasm and keeps having fun. It was a remarkable game and I will be sad to see the season end next week because we have had a great time.

After my son's game I was able to attend the Saturday morning Gamblers Anonymous meeting. I have missed this particular meeting the past two weeks because of the soccer games but this week my son's game ended in time for the meeting and my daughter's game wasn't until this afternoon. We had a great meeting and it was a packed room (normally we like to say "full house" but I am not so crazy about that term!!). Even though I have gone to over 250 meetings in the past year there hasn't been a time where I didn't learn something new about myself.

This morning was one of those days where someone said something and it rang oh so true to me. I am not sure of the exact words but it had to do with life going by so fast and when we (I) were gambling we (I) didn't take a breath to see what was actually going on. I got on this ride of compulsive gambling when I was 16 years old. I took a brief pause two times in my life but I never really understood how bad I had it so I continued the downward spiral.

Now I certainly know going back to gambling would be a death sentence so I need to go as slow as possible and really get to know myself. This means to work my recovery each and everyday so I don't slip back into those old patterns and get on that ride of doom. Yes, it has been a ride of doom and only bad things have happened over this period time. Now that I have gotten off the ride only good things are happening and my life is so much better.

After the meeting it was time for my daughter's soccer game. As I have written before my daughter is not the gifted athlete my son appears to be but she can hold her own. Today she got the chance to play forward which means she saw more offensive action as opposed to her regular defensive position. She played very well and does have a mean right foot. She came within six inches of scoring her first goal ever. She was so excited and disappointed at the same time but I could see her little eyes light up as she came over to see my wife and me. She held her two fingers together and said; "I was this close." It was so precious and I know she will score a goal some day and she will be so very happy.

As a quick aside; I know there is some sibling rivalry between my daughter and son (mostly on my daughter's part) but today as she was watching her brother's game she actually kept count as to how many goals he had. When the game was over she told her brother he had seven goals because he had no idea how many goals he had scored. My daughter may not admit it but I think she was very proud of her little brother. They are great kids and I know my Higher Power has a very special plan for these two and I can't wait to see what see as the plan unfolds (I think it has already started). The blessings I have in life are tremendous and I know as long as I stay in reality and work my recovery to the best of my ability life continues to be wonderful.