Here's to never growing up in My Unpredictable Life ...

So I survived the volleyball tournament today. I am however struggling with the lack of sleep lol. It's a "Bring your Visine to work" kinda night.

So to recap today's events ...

• Got off work at 7 am after working 8 hours.

• Arrived at gym at 9:30 am for warm up practice before 10 am tournament game #1 - after a 1 hour catnap for myself.

• Other team won first round, our team won 2nd round and then won the sudden death round with The Child serving the winning point.

• Arrived back at gym at 1:30 pm for warm up practice before 2 pm tournament game #2 - after a 2 hour catnap for myself.

• Other team won first round, our team won 2nd round and then won the sudden death round. Games were running 15 - 20 minutes behind at this point so we just stayed for the next round.

• Final Championship game (tournament game #3) commenced 15 mins. behind schedule at 4:15 pm with our team winning the first round and then winning the 2nd round making them ....

DODGE CITY FAMILY YMCA 2013 VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONS FOR 5TH & 6TH GRADE DIVISION

They came in 1st place.

Wait, what? They won the tournament? I'm quite sure the coach is still sitting there with a dumb look on his face repeating over and over to himself, "We won? How did we win? Wait, we won?" LOL He's not the only one lol

Seriously though, if you went off their history in practices and their track record with their first 6 games, and only winning 2 of those 6 games, realistically, they should NOT have won. Seriously! But yet, somehow, they not only won, they won 1st place!

All those moments of frustration, all the extra hours of one-on-one practices with The Child and Remi and Gabby after their practices ... all the practices I filled in for the Coach when he couldn't make it to practices ... the damn bloody knee I suffered during a said practice and am still sporting the scab from ... the numerous times of throwing the ball in frustration by either The Child or the coach ... the fist-fulls of hair hair I grabbed (my own lol) during the games when they would stand there & watch the ball come to them and just not reach for it ... every second of frustration, pain, and sweat was worth it in the end.

And that is the lesson(s) that my child learned today.

• At the end of the day, all of the hard work, the effort, the sore muscles were worth it.

• When you apply yourself, good things can happen.

• You can accomplish anything when you set your mind to it.

She learned that when she won 2 first place trophies at her karate tournament back in September but winning first place in the volleyball tournament today reinforced that for her. I wish I could capture her photograph that would depict her wonderment from today. I've tried, numerous times, but it is just one of those looks that is hard to capture, for me anyway due to my lack of photography skills. But it is etched into my brain, and in my heart, for all eternity.

I told The Child that she needed to thank "ME" for them winning the game lol. She said, "Really, Mom? You were only the Assistant Coach." I just looked at her and said, "Ha ha. Seriously though, it is because I was being so selfish and wanting y'all to lose so I could go home and go to bed that y'all actually ended up winning. So you are welcome." lol

I seriously was being that selfish. It was worth going without sleep though. Really worth it.

But damn. I'm struggling here. After the game, we stopped and picked up Chinese food for dinner. She loves, loves, loves her Chinese food. So we celebrated at home. How could I abandon her for sleep? We had an awesome family dinner reliving the days events and I wouldn't have traded a minute of it for an extra minute of sleep to save my soul. I finally made it to bed at 6 pm. Luckily, I work alone so I just sprayed a shit-ton of body spray on me before getting dressed and then another layer of it after I got dressed. Doubled up on my deodorant and called it good, with a quick run through of minimal make-up and hair pulled back into a ponytail. It was worth going without a shower for an extra hour of sleep.

And because the "No Sleep For You Fairies" love me extra special today, I get to work an extra hour of work thanks to the time change. Go me.

Damn. I am struggling here.

I will now bid you good-night or good morning or whatever. I'm going to go sweep and mop floors and find other things to do to stay active/awake and to make the time pass more quickly. This night needs to hurry up and be over.

Till next time ....