After all the build-up to our Nintendo Wii party, I was worried that I would feel let down when it was over.
That was silly.
After all, it's June -- and for families with school-age children, this month is almost as crazy as December, when we are all running around in a holiday frenzy. It's make or break time for school volunteers and employees -- if we don't meet our deadlines NOW, it's all over.
So on Tuesday, I joined three other PTA members in a two-hour meeting with our school principal, so we could plan out the calendar for the 2007-2008 school year. Never mind the fact that my daughter will be starting middle school in the fall -- I've been the person responsible for the calendar the last several years, and I needed to be present to fill in the blanks for the woman who will be taking over my PTA webmaster duties.
Yesterday, I attended the final meeting of this year's School Site Council, where I was supposed to be secretary. Because it was the last one, the school sprang for lunch from Baja Fresh (yum!) I spent the morning trying to finish the minutes for the term (I've been a lousy secretary this year), only to discover that someone else had covered it (thank goodness!). Fortunately, the work I've done in the past has earned me some good will, and no one made me feel guilty for enjoying my chicken burrito.
Today is another school luncheon, the annual one for volunteers -- and I will be squeezing that in while I prepare for tomorrow's road trip to Sacramento (my nephew's high school graduation is tomorow night). His younger sister is also graduating from elementary school (she's nine months older than Megan, but their system is K-6, so both girls are starting middle school at the same time).
Alex, Maddy and Megan are not the only graduates I know. Megan's handsome coach, Brian, graduated with honors last week from the local university. I've been tasked with taking up a collection from the girls' team parents to buy him a gift card, and so have been surreptitiously doing so the last two days at the gym. We will only have him for a couple of more months; he'll be starting law school in September.
The gym coninues to be a source of drama -- and lately, depression. For me. It has been two months since Megan's two favorite coaches gave notice, and have not been replaced. Then on Monday, the head coach brought the remaining female coach to tears and she gave her two weeks notice. The upper level girls that came to us have left, too. After next Friday, we will be down to just three (male) coaches. And as I said, one of them will not remain there for long.
The last six weeks have not been a lot of fun for Megan. It's true that the coaches make the girls get back to basics and do a lot of conditioning each spring when competition season ends -- but in the past, they've managed to fit in some fun activities, too. With so few coaches handling larger groups of girls, there hasn't been a lot of time for fun. I suppose that will improve now that there will be fewer girls. Maybe. Head coach really does care for the girls, but "fun" does not seem to be in his vocabulary.
I feel like Megan is a little lobster in a pot of water, and that each loss of a good coach has been turning up the heat -- so gradually that she doesn't recognize how bad things are. I want her to revisit the idea of changing gyms... although now, it may be too late, as so many girls have left us and everyone will be scrambling to get a spot at the same remaining local gyms (especially the one we tried out at)... so by the time she realizes she wants to follow, they may not be available to her.
In the summer, she trains five hours a day, five days a week. I had no problem with this the last two years, as I knew who she was working with and that this was her idea of fun. I don't feel good about this summer's training.
I did sign Megan up for a one-week gymnastics camp run by the coach at the other gym. I'm hoping that she has such a good time there with his coaches that she will be able to make a good comparison. I only hope that if she decides she wants to make a move, that an opening will still exist for her.
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