Tara’s Takes
It was six-plus hours on the road Saturday for a total of six hours in the Cities, only two of those hours with all three kids. In addition, only about 30 minutes of all three kids together. Was it worth it? 100%!
Last week was a busy one for Marshall High School student athletes and the student body as a whole. The volleyball team played at state on Wednesday evening. The football team played in the state quarterfinals in Blaine on Thursday. The volleyball team was then back in action on Friday at 9 a.m. and then played for the championship on Saturday night.
Ben was on the bus at 4:45 Friday morning to play for the pep band and was back Saturday afternoon to play again.
It was Saturday’s trip that threw our plans out the window. Originally, we didn’t know if the pep band was going (they don’t go to every state game). In addition, they have to have a variety of instruments and there is only so much room on the bus, so if you play, you wait to see if you are going. Ben also had some lawn work he needed to get done, making Saturday’s game even more questionable.
Then Mother Nature stepped in and brought our first snowfall, limiting what he could do. In addition, he’s a senior, plays baritone and his friends were all going to play at the championship game. Therefore, instead of being in the yard all day, he would be headed to the cities.
I had a long to-do list for Saturday. However, two of my three kids would be in the same town. Plus, it was a weekend, and while Per was covering stuff, I didn’t have anything I had to be at.
So we pivoted and Saturday afternoon Natalie and I jumped in the van and took off for the Cities. We got there a little early and did some quick shopping. The girl who used to hate shopping is now 14 and amazingly that outlook has changed. She could have spent a lot more than an hour at the mall.
After that, we headed over to the University of Minnesota to pick up Brady. Once again, a weekend meant Brady was free, too.
The three of us headed over to the Grand Casino Arena. After grabbing a parking spot, we headed to Smorgie’s for dinner. I’m not sure why, but this restaurant has become our go-to when attending events in the area. It’s quick, the service is great and the food is good.
Much of dinner was Brady and Natalie catching up. We hadn’t seen Brady since the end of September, so they had a lot of sibling torment to catch up on.
Once finished, we headed over to the arena. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it, the match before the Marshall game went five sets. Of course, I wanted to get on the road at a decent time, but this also meant we had time to sit with Ben before the pep band started. And, of course, he sat with the MHS student section during the game.
Marshall played a great match and recorded its unprecedented 10th state championship. It was fun watching some of the girls who have gone to school with Ben since preschool take home the trophy. It was just as fun to watch my kids hanging out together.
Due to the late start, it was a dark and quiet ride home. Natalie said she’d stay awake with me, but I could see her forcing herself to try and stay up. And if you have teenage daughters, you know it’s better to have well-rested kids than cranky ones. So after we dropped Brady back at the dorms, she got a pretty good nap in as I sang along to the radio. She was so tired she didn’t even complain.
Ben’s pep band bus was even later. After stopping for food and then dropping some other kids off on the way, he rolled in about 2 a.m.
We were absolutely tired on Sunday. But with the kids growing up so quickly and Ben deciding to go to school further away than Brady did and in a different direction, I know that these times of all three kids together will continue to get less and less. So, yep, if there is a chance to see all of them, even if it means a half day in the car and a loss of sleep, I’m going to take it every single time.
I’m just thankful I have the opportunity to do so.
