Soccer Mom

We just ended our fourth season of soccer for our boys. This time it ended in victory with our three boys winning the Championship games in their age divisions. Did I mention my husband was the headcoach for two of the teams, and assisted for the other? We've spent the last few months running in and out of the house as early as 7am on Saturdays to enjoy a full day of three soccer games. Our three boys have natural sweeper defense instincts. They hang in the back and then boot the ball back to the other side of the field when the opposing offenders try to score. They play for a small new community league where we know the other boys in the league because they've played in our son's team seasons ago. We can't help to feel happy for some of those boys who score against our team. We know their story and what it means to them. For the Championship games I made cupcakes to celebrate. Homemade cupcakes and there were no warnings from a National Headquarter office warning us to get flu vaccinations, just kids and families having fun.

I play in a coed soccer team as well. They are casual scrimmages but it's still competitive. Before I ever started playing, I would stare at the players while on my walk. They would invite me to play and I wondered what it would be like. I hadn't played since I was 10.  I enjoyed playing. I liked chasing after the ball and players since I was smaller and more agile than the girls who bloomed before I did. I played soccer until they elected me to be goalie and I got kicked in the face with the soccer ball right on my glasses. I never played soccer after that. It wasn't so much because it hurt but rather because I was humiliated. They laughed and poked fun of me wearing glasses. Back then that was all it took to deter me.

So when I finally accepted the invitation to play, I wore regular running shoes and borrowed my oldest son's chin guards. I don't remember much about that first game I played with them but I do remember I liking it. I was hooked.  My dabbling at half marathons had given me the confidence that I can hang in there and run. I knew I could at least play defense. Now I like soccer more than running because it provides a fun reason to do the running.

I've learned a lot from soccer. It's taught me how to zone in and focus on the moment. There are times when I am playing and I am in the zone and I'm able to seize the ball from a player or kick it while it's in the air between their running stride. I have no idea how I did it. I just did. I learned that you can't be thinking about what you are trying get your body to do, that you have to get your fumbling mind out of it, and just focus on the ball and let your body do what it wants to do. Knowing that, I don't always play well. In a single game, I am in and out of the moment. If only I could maintain laser like focus throughout my life as well as in soccer. I forget and take my eyes off the ball and I go for the player instead. My misdirection deceives me in life as it does in soccer. Sometimes I don't get to the zone at all. It always helps when I center myself and I ask God, My Creator, to help me focus, have a good game, and keep me safe. I don't feel I'm being selfish asking for help because I believe God is infinite and living in all things at the same time. So when I choose to center myself at a moment, it doesn't take away from that of something else. I'm learning to apply the principals I learned from playing soccer to all areas of my life to get out of my own way, just do it, feel it, and own it.

Theme Song: Sanctus Real - Lead Me

I came out to the balcony to write. I felt like being a little creative and working on a project. Outside I can feel the breeze and hear the waterfall and birds chirping. The wind rustles the tall palm tree branches and they make a nice soothing symphony.

I've debated what to do with these small pockets of time I come across. They come more often now. I'm not working on a book or movie. I blog, I read, I post slideshows of my pictures. I have time for small projects like that. I like writing feature pieces on places or events that inspire me as a way of sharing with the world something I found and would recommend.

I'm kind of working on moving towards that next step of actually being published in a magazine or as part of a collection of poems or short stories. [There I said it.] I'm just putting it out there in the universe. I thought I would have had to ramble another paragraph or so before I finally came out to say it. You hear all these wonderful stories of things just falling into place when your dreams are in line with your actions and you are moving towards them. So here I go, taking baby step by baby step towards an invisible goal. I someday do want to write a book of my life but for now, maybe I'll just begin with some short stories. While I'm at it... I'm also seeking a writing mentor. I've been surrounded by engineers and teachers most of my life but I have yet to know a professional writer personally. I've been blessed with three young boys. I'm thoroughly enjoying this time of my life with them. My youngest is now 7 and I'm just beginning to ask myself what I'll ever do with this writing.  For now, it's a creative outlet.

Theme Music: Britt Nicole Walk On Water (The Lost Get Found)

Poetry From the Streets

Picture from the Spoken Word Event in Downtown Riverside, CA

I had the most amazing night on Thursday at this Spoken Word event held in downtown Riverside, CA. On a cool and breezy California night, about a dozen male and female artists took their turn at the microphone and serenaded us with their poetry from  a second story balcony on the Culver Center of the Arts building. The selection of artists were as varied as their topics, from booty calls, to Arizona laws, to the art of writing. A good size crowd gathered below to watch, listen and be inspired. I felt surrounded by the common element that united each of us in that moment, our love for the written word. I looked around the supportive crowd of young and old, and breathed it all in to channel as a source of creative inspiration for later use. I couldn't have felt more at home.

Verbal Coliseum Spoken Word is part of a countdown series to the Culver Center of the Arts Gala Opening. For the next 5 months, on the first Thursday of the month, poets, rappers, and/or dance artist come out to perform from 7-9pm for this free event.

The May 6 performance featured HBO Def Poets, Joe Hernandez-Kolski (aka Pocho Joe) and Besskepp (Cory Cofer), along with local poets, MCs, soap boxers, and rhyme-sayers. Busdriver Experimental Hip Hop is headlining the June 3 event.

Countdown to Culver
June 3, July 1, August 5, September 2, October 7
7-9 PM FREE
3834 Main Street (Downtown)
Riverside, CA 92507
www.culvercenter.ucr.edu

Art As A Healer of Stumped Emotions

I've been drawing more Manga Characters since I bought my first art book, Draw Manga by Christopher Hart, back in April. Since then, I have put together a slideshow on Associated Content where I'm building a small community of fans. It's encouraging to receive their feedback. I can tell it's time for me to draw, write, or blog again because I start getting a little cranky or irritable if I haven't been creative in more than a week. I don't know why I didn't realize this sooner. I always blamed my edginess on my busyness but never on my lack of practicing and honoring my creative spirit. I am a creative type. I'm also gifted analytically. I went the analytical route in my most of my career and life. Returning to my art is always a treat, like a fresh piece of fruit after eating a heavy marbled steak. I need my artistic veggies to help me digest what life throws at me sometimes.  I liked this Magna character the best because it most accurately captures my spirit. I grew up wearing glasses, usually have my hair gathered, wear bangs, and my eye brows are slightly mismatched due to my own plucking, but with eyes wide open. It's my avatar.

NYC Here I Come

I'm so excited about my up coming trip to NYC, I can barely sit still. I hope it will be a wonderfully  unforgettable experience for us. I'm going with my husband, sisters, and a friend. I'm most excited about visiting Central Park. I plan to jog with my husband to and around Central Park from our hotel. The trip is still weeks away but I'm planning and buying tour tickets now. I'm hoping to dive into the NYC culture and just soak it all up. The street performers, hurried crowds, surrounding sky scrappers, the food, the fashion, the architecture. If NYC is the city that never sleeps, then I'd say I come from the city that takes afternoon naps. Nappy and relaxed just like the lion in the picture.

Theme Song: Sound of Kauai