Soccer Mom

It seems like it was just yesterday when I toted around an oversized bag filled with diapers, bottles and pacifiers. I vacuumed up cheerios three times a day and mopped oatmeal off the floor each morning. I woke up in the middle of the night for feedings or comforting and cuddling a little bundle. I wore holes in the knees of my jeans from crawling around on the floor after rambunctious noise-makers.

That's what it means to be a mom.


But, I'm not that kind of mom anymore. I'm going through a transition these days and I'm transforming into a SOCCER MOM. Scary. I never in my wildest dreams thought that would be me. I don't even like soccer.

But here I am, toting a soccer ball, sweaty shin guards, snacks and juice boxes for a team of kiddos who run around for an hour and call it a "sport."

I'm becoming the mom who drops her kids off a school in the morning, volunteers in the classroom and makes cupcakes for Valentine's day parties. No more pacifiers for me.

The kids don't need me to push them on the swings anymore or catch them at the end of the slide. They can climb to the top of the tree in the backyard and wave at me like little monkeys hanging off the branches.

So, dad got some lumber and built a little tree fort for them (to curb the climbing, although I don't know if it's helped...now the little guy can get up high enough to climb the tree on his own too!). They've spent their afternoons up in the fort dreaming and imagining all sorts of things. Up there they can be Olympians, knights and princesses, pirates or moms and dads.

As I watch my little tree-climbing reader who wants to be a soccer star, I think, these are the best days of motherhood.

Lemonade stands, rubber band music, tree forts and soccer.

I think being a soccer mom is simply marvelous!