As we arrived after the start of her game, Ravi, spying us on the sidelines and having had no clue of her aunt, uncle and cousins last minute plan to enjoy a whirlwind family fun-fest, began to jump up and down on the soccer field, bursting with so much joy as to feel need to release Adrenalin-fueled energy by running straight toward her Uncle Barry where, upon leaping into his welcoming arms, she exclaimed—I missed you, so much!—followed by wriggling back down to the ground so as to grab Barry’s mansized hand as though to pull her beloved uncle onto the field while, we, watching Ravi’s deeply surprised, fully charged think tank become so single minded as to disregard her teammates engaged in the game once her intent to connect her beloved uncle with her good natured coach gained precedence over anything else taking place around her! And everyone laughed, seeing her enthusiastic reaction as adorable. In short, young minds react with such spontaneity as to miss the bigger picture much more often than not. On the other hand, when adults become so singleminded as to miss the bigger picture more often than not, rarely are we seen as too cute for words.
At this point, Ravi was encouraged to wait till her teammates took a water break, and while restraining herself from dashing onto the field with zbarry in tow, she took turns hugging her Aunt Marie and Tony and Ray until her coach, advancing straight toward her, matched the sparkling smile dancing in our fully energized munchkin’s eyes while extending his hand to everyone in our extended family, one by one! LOL! Once the game resumed, we joined in the fun as every spectator on the sidelines laughed aloud to see three and four year olds continue to kick the ball, oftimes toward their opponents’ goal with no clue that they were heading the wrong way no matter how persistently their coaches, running along side their pint sized players, felt need to raise their voices in a good natured manner in hopes of guiding these self propelled young minds, (focused solely upon making a goal) to turn themselves around and kick the ball in the right direction. Every once in a while a small teammate would run off the field crying—everyone is trying to kick me! Or no one will give me a turn to kick the ball into the goal! And then there were miraculous moments when goals were kicked into the correct goal, and one of those moments, the most miraculous of all if you ask me, showcased our extended family leaping with utter delight to see three year old Ravi gaining control over the ball, and as she kicked it down field in the right direction, no one was more thrilled than our blond pony-tailed little sweetheart to see her very last kick in a highly focused series of kicks land that rolling ball into the goal so that, with her extended family cheering her on, Ravi, self confidence soaring, had scored a point for the first time ever in her short career of participating in a team sport!! What a great morning—enjoyed by one and all! So now, you can readily see why today’s unexpected, high spirited family fun fest offered up a proud gramma’s dream come true! Seriously, in addition to Ravi’s first self confident team participation, I watched three generations of our family meld together in the most loving fashion, thus, once again, validating my determination to raise our three sons to grow ever more supportive (less competitive with each other) in hopes of inspiring each one to be an integral part of our family’s cheer squad, and each time our ‘all for one, one for all’ attitude has reason to shine like a sunbeam directly overhead, brightening our memory banks with rollicking good times enjoyed together, the heart of this head cheerleader feels reason to smile as joyfully as had been true of Ravi’s heart, this morning, first when her spirit’s absorption of familial love felt naturally buoyed to soar as high as a kite, no strings attached, followed by my three year old grand daughter, riding today’s wave of self confidence straight toward the shoreline, running across the field, mindfully focusing her brain’s burst of energy upon securing the ball so as to score her very first goal, ever, for her team! What a jubilant memory, shared by one and all!
As for Uncle David, he, connecting with all of us in real time by way of group texts, was heart-fully excited (though he’d admitted to feeling understandably jealous of missing this milestone in Ravi’s life while he was separated from this family love-in by hundreds of miles). Of course, upon receiving the video shot of Ravi’s successful first team effort, ever, David’s next text expressed delight, matching ours in depth.
Now, Ravi is off to a fitting with Celina in readiness to enjoy being a flower girl, several weeks hence, while the guys (big and small) relax, sprawled out on a trio of couches placed in a conversational U in our living room, watching football while dozing, on and off. As to Marie and yours truly, she is resting in the guest room while I, feeling relaxed, am happily engaged penning this post in my bedroom before we all (inclusive of my niece and nephew and their puppy, Bandit) await the imminent arrival of Steven’s family for BBQ—whoops, there's the doorbell—
😍Ohhmmm ...
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