Not just volleyball …

 

… but also a place to learn some of life’s lessons.

Last weekend we went to a volleyball tournament of sixth grade teams in Chicago.  It included two teams from Coco’s school, one of which is coached by DD.  Neither team won it all, but both won some of their games. 

DD says that in fifth and sixth grade, volleyball isn’t about winning.  You are teaching the girls the rules of the game and possibly a love of the game.  Then, if they like it and have an aptitude for it, they can go on to play on competitive teams in the higher grades.  I love that idea.

But, DD and the other coaches at her childrens’ grade school really act out this concept, not just talk it. 

There are eighteen girls in sixth grade who play volleyball, all at varying stages of development of their skills and interest.  That number of girls means that there need to be two teams so that everyone can play.  And, apparently, those two teams are fluid — the girls aren’t always divided up the same way.  I say that because I know that before the Saturday tournament, they were re-divided so that they were as even in talent as possible.  For example, the girls who have developed the skill to serve overhand (including Coco) were divided evenly between the teams.

As we were sitting there watching the teams play it occurred to me that each girl on these teams, no matter what her talent level is, is learning some valuable lessons.  Because the teams aren’t divided as an “A” and “B” team, with the “A” team being the one with all the best players on it, all the girls will experience winning and losing, together and equally. 

In all my years “in the bleachers” I have observed that a team or player who doesn’t have much experience losing, can fall apart if they start losing.  And a team or player who hardly ever wins, may have trouble picturing themselves winning, so sometimes mentally defeat themselves.  But in this grade school’s system all of the players are experiencing the high of winning and the disappointment of losing, and seeing clearly demonstrated that there are time that there are actually more important priorities than winning. 

A great lesson that will hold them in good stead in the future in all areas of their lives, not just volleyball.

Of course, we are proud of Coco, and she is blessed with some natural talent.  But, I am especially proud of our daughter, Coach DD.  When I watch her on the sidelines I see our always competitive daughter very successfully putting her competitiveness aside and just being a great encourager and teacher of young girls who may or may not go on to play the game, but who will hopefully have great memories of their time on her team.

Hit the Pause Button!

 

We’re leaving for Chicago to spend some time with DD and her daughters (and to watch a volleyball tournament where she coaches and Coco plays). 

We’ll be back sometime Sunday, so I’ll be back in touch on Monday! 

May you have a wonderful, blessed weekend.

A Warm, Sunny Day in August …

 

… with three little girls we adore. 

When DD’s three daughters spent the first week in August with us, we had a great time.  And the weather was perfect, which allowed us to spend alot of time outdoors.

It is especially fun to see the girls enjoy activities that have been around for generations …

  

… like running through the sprinkler (an activity I remember enjoying when I was a child!)

 

 

 

   Mimi (5)

    Coco (11)

    Lulu (9)

   

 

When they had had enough of running through the sprinkler, they spent some “recovery time” on the deck.

   But, you know children, their recovery time was quick!   So, Lulu and Mimi decided to give their big sister, Coco, a massage.

    I showed Mimi how to do the chopping thing on Coco’s back, and she liked that so she did it with alot of enthusiasm!

    When they were all finished giving each other massages, Coco and Lulu asked Papa to take them out to the middle of the lake to swim.

      If they swim at the edge, their feet get “mucky” so he takes them out where they don’t have to worry about touching the bottom/muck.

 

 

   Mimi understands that she’s too little to swim out in the really deep water, even with a life jacket, but I’m guessing here she’s imagining a day when she will be a a “big kid” and be able to swim out there.

   After a while, she asked if we could go down and sit by the water.  So, we did and she made a game of sorting rocks. 

  She put all the ones that had pink in them in one pile.

    And I forget what her criteria were for the rocks that went into this pile.  But, she was very serious about examining each rock and deciding on where it went.

   I told her I thought the black and white one in the middle of this group looked like an oreo cookie!

   And we decided this one looked like a house slipper!

How long has it been since you have really looked at rocks?  It had been a while for me, and I really enjoyed seeing their beauty through her eyes.

When the rest came back from swimming we went in the house for a snack.

   A fun August afternoon in the sun.

A “Theatrical” Beginning to the Week!

 

We met DD half-way yesterday and picked up her three daughters so that they can stay with us this week.

When we got home, we all went out on the deck and just enjoyed some perfect weather and the girls ran around and got some exercise, after all those hours spent riding in a car. 

But, then Coco went inside and came back out as … Granny McFee, a character she has created. 

   

      So much of the “essence of Coco” is her long red hair … 

 … that “Granny’s” short, blonde/gray wig was quite a change.  And the costume (that she has developed herself) is perfect.

But, the real treat was when she opened her mouth and started playing the part, with a spot-on British accent!  She made us all laugh so hard. 

 

  We especially laughed when she made a big production of digging in her grandmotherly coin purse and finally coming up with a nickel that she gave to her little sister, Mimi, and told her not to spend it all in one place!  From the look on Mimi’s face, I’m guessing she’s wondering  if “Granny” really thinks a nickel is a big deal!

A performance we really enjoyed.  Coco and Lulu have already performed in a couple of community theater productions, but, while I don’t think Coco’s career choice would be acting.  she definitely has a talent for it (said her own totally unbiased “granny”) so I can at least picture her continuing to be involved in amateur theater as an adult.

It’s so fun to watch your grandchildren grow and develop, and sometimes demonstrate surprising God-given talents!

Mimi Shares the Spotlight!

 

DD’s daughter, Mimi, is our youngest grandchild.  Consequently, she gets more than her fair share of the attention when she is around.

  And it doesn’t hurt that Mimi (5), makes photography fun — she’s always doing something photo-worthy.  Don’t worry, the tattoo isn’t real.  She got it at an amusement park the day before.

But, when we were together on the Fourth, our oldest granddaughter was there with her husband and son, JJ (who is almost 2).  So, there was a new “star” … everyone wanted to play with and be around JJ.  And, we weren’t totally sure how that would play with Mimi.  How would she take to suddenly having to share the spotlight?

Well, we needn’t have worried:

  First of all, she has a photo-worthy sense of style.  She can wear hair pretties and a girly dress, along with a tattoo, and carry it off! 

(btw, as you can see, DD and I sometimes get in each other’s way when taking our pictures.   She has a verrrry nice camera, that I’m hoping she forgets to take with her sometime when she’s leaving after a visit!)

  Anyway, Mimi is always ready to pose for a picture.  Here, when she paused for a “Kodak moment” before marching off to fish, she caught JJ’s attention.

  Even though JJ had an appointment for a boat ride with his grandpa, you could tell this “big kid in the red dress” interested him.

  Their fishing and boat rides over, Mimi, looking a little the worse for wear (did the fish get your hair pretties, Mimi?), was ready to spend some quality time with JJ. 

   Let’s go see what we can find to play with.

   She’s using her “big kid” skills to show him the best way to play with his newest toy.

They played together great.

  And, Mimi’s never going to have to worry about not getting her share of the spotlight as long as she’s such an interesting kid!

It was so much fun to have everyone together.  And, these pictures will always help us remember what it was like.  I am thankful for family … and photography!

We didn’t see Love Story …

 

… so we didn’t know its heroine’s name.  And that made a big difference in our lives. 

When I was growing up, I only knew one Jennifer.  I remember her in grade school as cute … wirey and athletic, fun, always smiling, with pretty blue eyes, freckles across her nose and her long brown hair in braids.  And even after she ditched the braids as she grew into a pretty teenager, she was still, to me, the prototypical all American girl.  We played together in grade school, but we didn’t see as much of each other when we got to high school.  But, even though it didn’t happen too often, she was still one of the girls I always enjoyed when she was around.  Then we graduated from high school, she moved away and I never saw her again.

Fast forward 45 years … I found out at the reunion meeting last night that JENNIFER, the original, one-and-only JENNIFER, is coming to our class reunion next month!  

Of course, I’m looking forward to seeing her for all the same reasons you enjoy seeing any of your old classmates, especially the ones you haven’t seen in a long time — it’s just fun to hear what they’ve been doing.

But, I will also tell her something that I’m pretty sure will surprise her … that she, and not the heroine of Love Story, as is the case with many Jennifer’s, was the inspiration for our daughter’s name!  

When we were trying to think of a name for our daughter, after lots of debate, we chose the name Jennifer partly because the name had all kinds of good memories attached to it for me because of the original Jennifer, but also we didn’t know any other Jennifers, so it would be unique!

Then, six years later, still never having seen Love Story, I was shocked when we enrolled our darling little Jennifer in kindergarten and there were SIX Jennifer’s in her grade!

That’s when we found out that the heroine in the movie Love Story, which was one of the most popular movies released the year before our little girl was born, was named Jennifer.  And from the number of Jennifer’s our daughter has encountered all of her life, there must have been alot of people having babies about that time who had seen the movie and loved the name of the heroine.

In retrospect, maybe we should have gone with something reallllly unique, like Hermione … I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t have been six of that one in her kindergarten!

The Possible Negatives of Wearing Cute Shoes

 

   When DD came for the Fourth of July, she had on these really cute shoes.

   But, they probably weren’t the best footwear for helping Mimi fish on the uneven ground around the lake.

   And they were not very efficient for killing this spider that happened to cross her path in the living room.  She stepped on him three times before he even realized he was in danger!  (Someone with more practical footwear finished the job for her.)

   And when she took them off, for just a minute …

   … her 11 year old daughter, Coco, who wears the same size shoe, tried to claim them!

 

   Next time, maybe you should wear sneakers? …

but, they were realllly cute shoes!

Excuse Me, Will You Be Long?

 

 When DD was in law school and she and two cats shared a tiny apartment.  Two cats, one litter box … it was inevitable.  Sometimes there was a line.

The Liz Taylor Dress

 

When DD was a senior in high school, she saw a picture of Liz Taylor in People magazine in a beautiful dress with a unique, cape-like neckline, and she told me, “THAT’S the dress I want for the prom!”

Of course, she was confident she could say that because we knew and loved the wonderful Rosemary, seamstress par excellance.  And Rosemary loved DD and I knew she would do her best to replicate the dress from the picture for her.  And Rosemary certainly didn’t let us down.  She did a beautiful job.

So, for her senior prom, DD didn’t have to worry about whether someone else would show up in the same dress, because hers was an original. 

  We always referred to this dress as the Liz Taylor dress.  (I can’t find a full length picture, but it was tea length.)

And, of course, the Liz Taylor dress was worn with the infamous cookie cutter!

  DD even wore it to a college dance once … probably just to show her dad she was getting good value for his hard earned dollars that had been spent for a very special dress she just had to have!

Ah, proms … the “date” decision, the deciding what to wear, the hair decisions, the angst.  Fun, but nerve-racking, whether the attendee or the mother of the attendee!

Happy prom planning mothers and daughters!

DD and Coco, Home Safe From Venice!

 

 .

Our Daughter Divine and her oldest daughter, 11 year old Coco, went to Venice for spring break.

As the time to leave neared, DD was having some reservations, wondering if she had bitten off more than she could chew with such a big trip.  But, she overcame her fears, which she has always been very good at, and went.

And they had a fantastic time. 

She posted multiple times while they were there, but couldn’t add in the pictures until she returned home.  So, she has now added the pictures, and it was fun to go back and look at them, as well as re-read her Venice posts.  She always has an interesting, almost always funny take on things, even when they go bad. 

Now that they are home, my guess is that DD will enjoy telling the story of  their first day in Venice many times, even though at the time it was an awful experience!

(Note to Mothers:  Probably not a good idea to see the movie Taken, as I did,  right before your daughter and granddaughter go on a trip to Europe alone!  In that movie, young women tourists are kidnapped and sold into white slavery! )

Thank you God for bringing them home safe.