Throughout elementary school my parents signed me up for the typical after-school activities: piano and soccer. I despised both of them; piano challenged me to be patient while soccer challenged me to withstand the cold. But the one who took the cake for being the worst for a fifth grader who liked to spend her evenings petting her cat was soccer.
We rarely had practice canceled because of the weather. If it rained during our scheduled field time we usually still stayed outside. But I remember one evening at practice there was a gym available for us to scrimmage in instead of having to weather the rain. Having dry toes was blissful, and not having to stick my hands under my armpits to keep them warm was magical. Looking back, I can see that was the one time I felt somewhat happy at practice.
At this time of year when I drive past lit soccer fields in the evenings, I see so many young ones chase the ball in torrential downpours and I thank all that is good and pure in the world that I don’t have to be them.
