Dear Kid,

I now have some perspective.

(Yeah, that’s not entirely true. But I have had a few hours’ sleep and I was just too worn out to write and reflect after the game.)

Sooooo, there was a soccer game in Cincinnati this week (wasn’t sure if you knew that).

The price of parking in the area doubled, the number of available seats for dinner eating dwindled to a ridiculous few, and joy and excitement reached entirely new heights.

Dinner was a colossal failure hot mess unfortunate event interesting. After a competitive game of “I Dunno, Where Do You Want to Eat?” we tried every restaurant within 6 miles only to discover that we’d have to wait until dawn for a table. (No joke. We put our names in at one place and we’re still waiting for them to free up a table for us.) We ended up at Dibella’s “Wait, there are going to be guests tonight?” Subs.

After placing our orders, we sat down to wait for the sandwiches.

Let’s do the math: 6 people, 5 of whom ordered subs. How many sandwiches were delivered correctly and how many mistakes were made? Ok, carry the one, compute the combination and permutations, throw salt over your shoulder, and be sure to show your work. In pencil. And the answer is: one sandwich delivered correctly! 4,782 mistakes were made. For the last sandwich, it took our collective efforts to explain that a Philly Cheese Steak included steak (not turkey) and cheese (not invisible cheese substitute).

Fortunately, we had plenty of time and eventually everyone was fed. (I ate French fries at the game. They were just about perfect. Happy, happy little me.)

FC Cincinnati Soccer and Pi. DearKidLoveMom.comThen we went to the game.

If we’re being completely honest, Football Club Cincinnati was outplayed from whistle to whistle. But as you know, I rarely let complete honesty get in the way of fan-ship and team loyalty. There were definitely some questionable officiating calls. Our guys played their hearts out and when they scored the first goal the crowd went wild.

I have never fully understood that phrase until now. I have never felt that kind of transformative energy. It was a lifetime experience.

Ultimately (and by “ultimately” I mean after two periods of overtime), we lost. By one teeny tiny little unfortunate goal.

We got home waaaay past my bedtime. But it was absolutely worth it.

Love, Mom