Tales of a Transplanted Fashionista

Changing Seasons

It’s no secret that transitioning to Junior High or High School has its struggles, so my child was definitely not immune from those. With the arrival of 7th grade came new classes, new and old friends, and a year of maturity and adjustment under his belt (or under his athletic shorts and hoodie). Cole made the decision over the summer between 6th and 7th to join the 7th grade basketball team, a giant leap for his self confidence and for my own mama heart.

On “Basketball Days” (A Days), I found myself waiting on pins and needles to hear how practice was, how many reps he got in and if he got to practice a lot. Our little family schedule from November-February involved me getting donations from other amazing mamas for snack bags for the boys, and chasing a bus to games all over Northeast Arkansas. I changed the chairs in the back of my car from soccer mom chairs to basketball chairs, and figured out how to like concessions stand food (and the easiest route to Paragould during the crazy rain). Cole picked up some training sessions with a coach on the side who pushes him to clean up his diet, work on his form, and encourages him to continue to work hard. My own mother created a fan base for herself along the way, and perhaps did not make any friends in several gyms too (Mountain Home, I promise not to bring her back).

This season he did learn a lot about himself, and I enjoy getting to watch him dig in. He is a good team player who loves to cheer on his teammates, whether he is on the bench on in the game, a rare quality in so many humans. As a counselor myself, I love to cheer for his teammates, and I hate to see their shoulders drop when they miss a shot, when they miss a pass, and when they don’t feel like they played their best. There are so many life lessons in sports, and so many of those are not learned in the wins, they are learned in the losses. I know that coaches feel that pressure to win all the time, but in the big picture, kids learn so much more from losing, discussing why they lost and what they could do differently, and making healthy changes for the next practice or game.

I can’t wait to see what Cole does with his one big life, and how he’s going to use that sense of humor and bright light to help those around him. I realize that he is learning so much every day about how to respond to criticism, how to work as a team, and how he can use what he is learning from his trainer to apply to his every day life on the basketball court, in the classroom and in his life in general. I’m just so glad every day to get a front row seat to his life, whether it be a soccer mom chair, basketball bleacher seat or a seat at our dining