Maybe putting so much on hold the last couple weeks as Kates battled the flu actually helped distract me to a point that cleared my mind enough to fuel this burst of energy and inspiration. I also might be channeling my mother, who – besides being a source of inspiration for my writing since I was 8 years old – seems to have experienced her own burst of energy lately and, despite the limits of her MS and recent foot surgery, has shared more stories and dispatched more emails to my brother and I in the last two months than she did in the last two years.
It also doesn't hurt that we're having spring-like weather this weekend. The snow is gone – for now –and the temperatures are in the 50s, allowing Kates and Faye to play in the backyard yesterday. Phoebe and I took a bike ride this afternoon.
* * *
We’re at the midway point of the Olympics, and the boredom is setting in. Maybe it’s the fact that the U.S. athletes have been seemingly overrated and underwhelming this year. Which is largely NBC’s doing, leaving us at the mercy to watch the athletes and events they deem important during primetime. I’ve seen enough of the incredibly hyped Nathan Chen and slalom during the last week to last me the next four years, thank you very much.
I, too, fell for NBC’s dirty depiction on Friday night of Austria's Anna Veith winning the women's super-G – only to read the news Saturday morning that Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic won the event and think, ‘Wait a minute, that’s not the way I saw it last night.’ It seems like that’s happened more times during this Olympics than I can remember it happening any other time.
This from the Associated Press …
Instead of laughing off or owning up to making a wrong call the night before in the women's super-G, NBC's ski announcers seemed intent on justifying themselves Saturday night. In that Alpine race, little-known Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic stunned everyone by edging Austria's Anna Veith for the gold medal. Ledecka, ranked No. 43 in the world, was considered to have so little chance that NBC's Dan Hicks declared Veith the winner and NBC switched away as if the race was over. But it wasn't. Returning to the subject a night later, Bode Miller declared that "in everyone's opinion, the race was over. It was one of the most incredible upsets I've seen in any sport." Hicks noted that even Ledecka couldn't believe she had won. "Neither could we," he said. Under the circumstances, producers had made a reasonable call to move on to a compelling figure-skating competition. But it was still wrong for Hicks to have expressed certainty that the race was over, and the way he and Miller revisited it Saturday only served to annoy viewers who had missed the miracle on snow.So last night, Kates and I tuned out and watched “Temple Grandin” so she could see the story that I've been raving about for herself.
* * *
Yesterday was the regional math contest, and Phoebe was one of the five kids in her grade who were selected to compete and represent her school. Kates and I couldn’t have been prouder of her when she came home with the letter notifying us of her selection a few weeks ago.
Although, Kates – who happens to be Phoebe’s math teacher this year – knew Phoebe had been selected. In fact, Kates annually coaches the team, so it was shaping up to be a special time for them to share that experience together.
Then, Kates got sick. Another teacher took over the practice sessions with the students in her absence. And a few days ago, realizing she wasn’t going to be well enough to accompany the kids to the contest, she asked the other teacher to take her place at the contest. Kates was crushed.
So, instead, I woke up early with Phoebe yesterday morning and drove her the 15 minutes down the road to the high school in the northeast corner of the county for the contest. Phoebe was nervous, and I was anxious for her. My heart sunk as we parked the car and Kates texted me to inform me that Phoebe had forgotten her calculator and No. 2 pencils on the kitchen table. A moment later, we met the fill-in coach in the parking lot. Without prompting, he told Phoebe he had extra calculators and pencils if she needed them. Phew.
Inside, I helped Phoebe check in and she went on her way with the rest of her team while I joined other parents to wait out the morning in the school gym. … I saw her again a couple hours later when they got a break and we went to the concession stand for a snack. Then, she found me around noon once the contest had finished. Some volunteers were serving up pizza and hot dogs in the lunchroom, so Phoebe and I took advantage of that.
Then we waited in the school gym for the judges to announce the scores. And we waited. And waited and waited. The schedule indicated the award winners would be announced between 1 and 1:30 p.m. By 2, there had been no indication an announcement was close nor any reason given for the delay, and the kids – and adults – were getting restless. Finally, a few minutes after 2, the contest coordinator appeared and announced that the judges were having trouble uploading the scores to their computer system. They didn’t know when the issue would be fixed, so the best course was to dismiss everyone and send the awards to the individual schools and students.
With little time to spare, Phoebe and I drove back to The ‘Ville and headed straight for the basketball arena to take in the ‘Cats final regular season home game. They were playing the Lions – the only team to beat them during last year’s championship run and the team that handed them their first of just two losses this season. Needless to say, going back to the days when I was a student on the campus, they’ve always been a team that’s given us trouble, and they’re a big rival on the basketball court.
We had a 49-game home win streak and a win yesterday would have guaranteed our fifth straight conference championship.
The game lived up to the hype, and it was a war. Our team got off to a good start and grabbed an early lead by several points, but the Lions clawed back. We found ourselves down by about 10 at halftime and got back into the game in the second half. Our star point guard, who’s been slowed by a foot injury this year, showed some glimmers of the national player of the year he was last year late the game – and even nailed a long three-pointer with a couple seconds left to get the ‘Cats within a point of the lead. But an errant in-bound pass on their ensuing offensive possession sealed it for the opponent and we lost a heartbreaker, 73-70.
