Compromise

Last Saturday we had a jam-packed day. Chris had his final driver’s training class. Ryan had a baseball tournament & was supposed to be at scout camp until Saturday morning. Scott had a baseball tournament, YSA lake day activity & dance, & a court of honor. Jared just stayed with us as the family mascot. And I was the ride & schedule coordinator.

The toughest part of the whole day was deciding how much time to spend at each event. Baseball is not the most important thing on the planet. However, Scott made a commitment to his friend Tripp to help coach Ryan’s travel ball team. Scott had not been to one tournament (of four) this spring/summer season. Scott was able to sit in the dugout with the kids, keep the books, & teach some of the mental parts of the game. As a bonus, Ryan’s friend Michael was playing in the tournament as a guest player. The boys won both games on Saturday (choirs singing!) & eventually won the entire tournament. The kids were truly able to work together as a team & were not plagued by negativity throughout the day.

Ryan had a great tournament. They played four games & won three – two on Saturday, two on Sunday. [Note: Ryan is fortunate enough to play for a coach that honors our family’s desire to not play on Sunday. One of my friends mentioned to me yesterday that we had never made an exception – I think that this has helped our cause. Many people in the south go to church on Sunday, but afterwards many people go out to eat dinner at a restaurant. Part of my explanation of our belief in keeping the Sabbath day holy has included explaining that we don’t even go out to eat dinner. I am grateful that BYU has always stood their ground – explaining that we attended BYU helps too.]

Chris went to his driver’s training class via good friends driving him to & from the hotel where the class is held. The movie was about the consequences of unsafe driving (alcohol-related) & mentioned nothing of texting & driving (a little outdated). Chris saw lots of blood & gore & reported that he passed out for about 30 seconds & the instructor just laughed it off. (The teachers are all retired police officers.) Now we just need to pick a date & go down & get his license (hooray – Mom is ready!).

After Ryan’s game, we hopped in Scott’s car & rushed down to the lake day activity at Lake Keowee. We always try to be at every YSA activity & dance. We got lost & missed more than half the activity & all of the dance. I feel a little less guilty because there are leaders from every ward that should be there (they know, right?) & there were a lot of great people from the other stake that were there. This activity was the first that I can remember feeling so conflicted about. (… there was conference last year when I drove back & forth between Boiling Springs & home… and the time that we went to Six Flags without our kids… and…) After the lake, we hurried home & attended Justin’s eagle scout court of honor.

How do you balance supporting your kids in sports, honoring commitments to friends, & magnifying your church callings? How do you choose between lots of worthy goals & activities?

All that I do know is that I was really, really, incredibly tired by the time everything was finished.