Why Try When Quitting Is So Much Easier?

 
A year or two ago, I discontinued this blog.  I discontinued it because one of my daughters’ friends discovered it and decided to read it to her friends at the lunchroom table.  She was embarrassed and I felt awful for putting her in a bad position. The only option, to me, was quitting. Clearly that’s the message I wanted to send to my kids. 

A handful of months later, a bunch has changed, one of those things was my kid not caring that it was read at the table.  So, long story short...I’m back!

Today, I got to think about the idea of quitting.  Its something I’ve become pretty adept at over the last couple of years.  Running has ground to a halt, as has writing, gardening, traveling and on and on.  For a long time, it was that life was just getting in the way and after a while, quitting was just so much easier than swimming upstream. 

Enter my eldest. 

Avery has always impressed me.  She is a high school senior for ~checks watch~ another 28 hours.  When she graduates she will walk with a few honors from honor societies, the seal of biliteracy and acceptance into every school she applied to.  She’s a remarkable kid and of last night, she will also walk having been part of a state champion soccer team. 

Its that last one I’m writing about. 

You see, it initially looked like Avery had played in her last game at Fossil Ridge before the season even began.  It’s a super competitive program and it didn’t look like she had made the cut.  She was invited to be the team manager, which she accepted.

Good for her, no way I would have done it, but she’s cut from different cloth, I guess. 

But here’s the thing about her.  She’s quiet but that shouldn’t be confused for complacent.  She got home from the tryouts and the offer to be manager and she was obviously upset.  I knew she was upset because she elected to go for a run at nine o’clock at night.  Its not the time that’s was the dead giveaway, it was the run.  She hates “going for a run”.  Hates it in a way that the normal person hates intestinal flu.  The fact that she was going for a run was concerning to say the least.

She was running, sure, but what she was doing was hatching a plan. 

That plan included being the team manager, endearing herself to the team and coaches and busting her ass for a few weeks to get stronger and faster.  She worked out daily, went to the field and practiced skills and shooting, she ran, she worked on cardio and built herself up.

When she was ready, she asked the coaching staff for another chance.  She wanted to try out again.

NOTE: As her father, I couldn’t be prouder.  However, as a former participant in competitive sports I had genuine doubts on a variety of plains.  Would they say “no”? If they let her tryout, what would that look like?  What if her work wasn’t enough?  What if she did all of this just to miss out again? 

Honestly, to my surprise, they agreed to let her give it another go.  It wouldn’t be a traditional tryout.  She would practice with the team and they would evaluate her in comparison to her teammates.  They also let her know that this was no layup.  It would be an honest evaluation and her odds weren’t great. 

One practice went by, then two, three, four.  No answers, not a word.  They played a game with no answer, and went into the weekend with another game.  No decision. 

I was genuinely assuming the worst when Avery called me at my desk.  “Guess what, Padre (the name she has called me since I can remember), I got my kit.”

Not to say I’m not really a soccer aficionado, but I had no idea what that meant.  I thought it was something for her art class perhaps.

Her kit is her soccer uniform.  She had made it. 

She went from cut, to team manager, to player to state champ.  Now, that doesn’t mean she scored the tournaments winning goal and won the MVP.  She was among a bunch of girls that didn’t see a ton of playing time in the tournament. There were girls that were committed to Division 1 schools for soccer on the field. There were offensive stars, a defensive wall and a goalie that gave up one goal in the tournament.  What all of those girls have in common is that they are state champions.  Four or Five hundred girls have played varsity soccer at Fossil Ridge over the years, this two dozen are the only ones who can say they held the title.

The lesson here, girlies?  It goes back to the quitting thing.  Avery, you didn’t quit when many would have, when I would have.  I admire of so many aspects of you, but this one caught me off guard.  I knew how bright you are, how kind, how generous and pretty and funny.  This thing caught me out of the blue and I couldn’t be prouder. 

I guess them message is this, it ain’t over until you say its over.  Something about a well-worn path and the road less travelled.  Lately I’ve taken the easy path far too often.  Congratulations, Avery, on all of your accomplishments.  On graduation, and soccer, and your art and everything else.  You are an inspiration.  I can’t wait to see where your path takes you.