Bug Smegma

Even though he couldn’t play, the plan was to attend Jacob’s first soccer tournament game at 1030am. He needed to be there 15 minutes earlier than us so Jimaken agreed to swing by pick him up and take him. For our part, I was out of bed by 745am. I started coffee then played on the internet. Enjoyed coffee both inside and then out on the deck once Mindy was up. It was approaching 9am when she headed up for a shower and I headed off on my run.

As for the weather, it was partly sunny and 70 degrees. We were expecting it to hit the upper 70s by late afternoon. Looking ahead, they're calling for much cooler temps come Monday with a daytime high of only 71 degrees.

Like most weekend days, I ran only 3 miles. It was pretty easy. Back from my run by 940am, I double checked on our departure time with Mindy. She wanted to leave by 1010am. I decided to skip a shower and stay in my running clothes. I made a rare to-go cup of coffee in a Viking coffee tumbler and we headed out near 1010am.

We parked in a tree shaded lot in between the two soccer field parking lots. Very close to the road. All we knew for certain was that his game was on field #7. Finding field #7 was the trick. The soccer complex was near capacity, games and people all over the place. Quite a long walk to field #7, but I didn't mind. It was a gorgeous morning.

Most of the Hilliard parents were huddled still talking about yesterday's horrible game. I opted to not participate and instead sought out the coach to give him some words of encouragement. I didn't want him to think we were angry with him for giving Jacob and earful. We talked for short while. His point was this: the kids need to control what they can control, and yesterday they lost sight of that and allowed the other team to get in their heads and therefore beat them. I like the way he thinks.

We were facing Grove City. Word had it that we had to win and the team that beat us Saturday needed to lose. If that happened, Hilliard would still make the championship game against Worthington, a team we've always played close but have never beat. Meanwhile, Jacob and his team mate Easa were serving their one game suspension in the morning game. Jacob's job as we told it was to cheer and encourage his teammates.

Long story short, Jacobs team won the game something like 4-1. The Grove City team was smaller but a little faster and scrapy. We could see the other game two fields over. The crowd erupted when the Olentangy team was defeated putting Hilliard into the finals against their dreaded foe, Worthington. We soon learned that the game would start at 3pm on the same field, #7. We headed for home with plans to come back a couple hours later.

Lindsey and the boys were already at the house working on their laundry. I decided to spend most of my time outside. The first thing I did was get our bikes down from the garage ceiling. Next, I put away the camping gear that Mindy took to school a couple weeks prior. I put air in our bike tires, too. I eventually decided to wash my car. While I washed my car, Mindy left to run errands. her errand list included a stop for a couple more steaks to grill for dinner.

Landon asked if he could help. Of course. I let him wash and rinse. As expected, I had to go over the his areas of responsibility a 2nd time. :) Took a while to get the Accord clean. In fact, I even polished the hood, hoping to get rid of some if not all of the pesky bug smegma stuck there. It worked only marginally, but wasn't all for not. The entire car could really use a coat of polish. wiping it dry is so much easier after a good polishing.

Once the Accord was clean I decided to wash Lindsey's Civic parked along the curb. Right away I noticed several new dings as well as scratches and mars. That got my blood boiling. There were inexplicable dings and scratches on all sides and then even a few on the hood in clusters. Almost looks like someone was wrestling on the hood. And given that I am the one paying for the car, I was furious. If it wasn't my wallet, I wouldn't have a say. I went inside to fetch Lindsey to get her excuses but she wasn't to be found. I guessed out back somewhere smoking. Grrrr!

Out front I cleaned up my car washing mess but decided not to put away the car wash supplies. I figured I would wash Mindy's Pilot as soon as she got back home. She was home soon enough but initially parked on the curb behind Lindsey. I motioned for her to pull in the drive. She did so reluctantly. Still not sure why.

Just as I got started on the Pilot, Jimaken stopped by to pick-up Jacob for the championship game. Somehow, I had lost all track of time. It was already well passed 2pm. Mind said we needed to leave in 15 minutes for the game. I hurried to finish washing the Pilot. Bella and Landon helped with it too. Having shown Mindy all the dings on Lindsey's car, Mindy soon asked Lindsey about it. She came out acting completely oblivious, just as I expected she would. Frankly, it pissed me off even more.

She finally admitted to Landon putting the ding with scratches on mars down the side. I tried using polish to see if the paint mars would come off but they didn't. The others she tried telling me it had to be hail. No. Sorry. Not buying what you're selling. Aside from keeping her job, Lindsey hasn't lived up to her end of the bargain. The 10-15 minutes wasn't pretty. I yelled. She yelled. At the time I felt like a fool for being gullible enough to do the deal and buy her the damn car. Feel like I am throwing good money at bad.

It was time to leave. What I didn't realize until it was too late, Bella was lying on the sofa watching TV the entire time that Lindsey and I were bickering. I think it scared her. Later, she shared with Mindy that she was afraid that she was going to disappoint me too. She also confided in Mindy the fact that she felt it was my fault since I raised Lindsey. I suppose partially true. I love Bella!

We left for the soccer game around 235pm. We parked in the same lot as we did earlier. Mindy shared that my dad would likely be joining us. We unfolded our camp chairs just as the game was getting under way. Jacob was back in the line-up after serving his one game suspension. Mindy and I both were convinced that he was incented to play extra hard.

The game was evenly matched and nip and tuck for the entire first half. I'm pretty sure that it was 0-0 at the half. Dad showed up just before halftime. Jimaken's dad, Tom, showed up shortly thereafter. We introduced the two. Jacob's team took a hard fought 1-0 lead midway through the 2nd half. We missed a couple other golden opportunities to score more, but they missed one or two, too.

We held our collective breath as the rest of the time ticked off the clock. 3-2-1 ... Jacob's team won the championship game 1-0. It was very exciting.

Dad shared that he had some things in his van for Mindy's classroom - pencils, note pass, etc. which were donations from brother Bobby. Said he was going to pull around to our Pilot while we headed to the trophy ceremony with Jacob and team.

I was most impressed with the Worthington coach. He had some very kind words for Jacob's team: play extremely hard and tough, to the final buzzer. Said he always loves playing Hilliard because he knows his kids will be challenged. The runners-up got trophies too. Jeremy, Jacob's teams coach, isn't one for a lot of words, but he had some nice things to say, too. After passing out the trophies, the team admin declared Dairy Queen for all!

As we made our way to the Pilot, Bella asked if she could ride with Jimaken and Jacob. Why not? Mindy and I soon decided to skip the DQ and instead head straight home to start dinner, which by then it was already 5pm. However, first, we met dad at the Pilot where he handed off three large boxes of supplies. Mindy invited dad to join us for dinner, but he declined favoring instead to dine at home with the mannequins. Understood. After all, he just recently got them into their summer outfits.

Lindsey was already done and gone by the time we arrived home. She apparently sent a text to Mindy advising that Landon went home with her but Rocky was staying with Evan and having dinner with us. He asked about having dinner with us earlier. Not a problem.

We weren't home long before I stepped out on the deck to start grilling. I grilled five steaks (3 ribeye, 2 filet), even though I tried convincing Mindy that 3 was plenty. She countered that we would use the leftovers for wraps on Monday or Tuesday. To go along with the steaks, Mindy baked potatoes all afternoon. I had half a ribeye. It was good, not great.

After dinner and clean-up, Mindy and I went on a bike ride and ended up at Darwin's place. We parked our bikes on the driveway and headed inside to visit briefly with Connie. I wanted to explain why we decided not to do an Outer Banks trip this summer. We sent a text but I felt a face to face explanation was warranted. Darwin was working. Connie was there with Jordan, her brother Danny, and the wee ones. We talked for a while. Connie is a very sweet woman. We visited for 10 minutes or so before continuing on with our Sunday evening bike ride. We did about three miles, that's it. That was enough.

At home, Lindsey had just pulled up coming back to pick-up Rocky. He was still down at Evan's. She drove down there to get him. Mindy headed out on the deck while I took up refuge on the sofa. I might've napped briefly before we all decided to head to bed around 930pm. I was really tired, but once in bed I just couldn't sleep. Around 1015pm I got up again and headed downstairs for at least another hour or more. Watched How It's Made. I headed back to bed before midnight but wasn't asleep until after. Ugh!