Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Plastic or...gold?

Yesterday I went to about a hundred sporting events...and it only took about two hours, and I never left my kitchen.
On the "we're moving to-do list" was a one liner... it read "pack up trophies."
The trophies represent countless hours of watching my kids and their teammates play games..all kind of games. There were team trophies, individual trophies and even ( I confess)..the first and only trophy that ever was awarded to me!
The trophies were posted to Craigslist under the "free" heading, in the hopes that they could perhaps be recycled for young Twin Cities athletes. Within three hours I had three takers...all coaches. Before I gave them to the softball coach ( he coaches THREE teams) I took them down from the high shelves above the stairs where they have lived since the mid 80's and cleaned off years of dust. While doing this, the plates on the bottom once again became readable..so I read...and in that way re-visited the events where they took place. I could not remember all of them, or even which ones belonged to which child..but there were a few that stood out and those memories totally made my day. These included the very first trophy ever to enter our house..we were all so proud of David's first (4th place:)) Little League trophy..who knew then that plastic trophies multiply faster than rabbits? I laughed out loud when I took one down that was facing the wall, and remembered how Molly insisted that it go that way because it was a trophy for "Double Consolation Winner" in a 6th grade basketball tournament..and she insisted it only meant her team on that day was the best of the worst! The (one and only) academic trophy was from a pre-sixth grade summer reading contest entered by David and three of his classmates. I cannot remember the questions or the score, but I hold in my heart the memory of the teacher who would call them "her" students but not until September..who attended and cheered them on to victory. As I dusted the plates off of the trophies, the memories flooded the kitchen, of past games, teammates, tournament weekend drives, hot dogs eaten on the fly between games (except for the youthful vegetarian who would only eat ketchup on a bun),selfless coaches and fun (and funny) parents who shared parts of their lives with me as we shared the sidelinles of events.
I'm glad that the trophies will get to sit on someone's shelf again instead of ending up in a landfill. I'm proud of my kids for not needing a trophy as proof that they were part of something bigger than themselves and were good at it.
However guys...the mom and family historian in me surfaced at some point during the day..and I pulled out and saved one trophy for each of you... and hopefully if you look at it years from now..it will be a reminder of all those who were part of the village that raised you, and the time they spent enjoying it..and you!
But that is for the future and I am off to find a box for those reminders of times well spent...now.

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