Wow... What A Week!

This week has been quite an emotional one for me. Packed with laughter and tears, music and hugs, stress and loneliness, etc, etc, etc...

Tuesday night was the team's banquet. After having to email the administration to get the okay to go since I had been "fired", I was really excited to get to see my team. I decided to surprise them and only told one person I was going. All in all it was really an amazing night and I was so glad to see the kids and relive the happy moments of the year with them. It was good to be able to see the seniors all together before they graduate and remember some of the good times from the past four years. I still can't believe that it's already been four years and they are graduating. Crazy! It hit me that night when I was talking to some of the parents that I had become close to and spent many weekends at tournaments with that I was done. I really wouldn't be coaching next year. I knew in my head all along that, that was the case but to actually have to admit it and talk about it was really, really hard. I guess I just thought the parents had known, but apparently not. I had a lot of good conversations with some of the parents and kids and was so glad that I could be there.

My whole motto with coaching is that I want to make a difference in their lives. Speech was something that changed my life and as a coach I don't want for the team to be strictly about winning and competition because yea it's always fun to win but its all about the experience you have in the process. After this week, I truly feel like I have accomplished that task of making a difference in the lives of some of my team members. That is all that I ever wanted to do was make a difference and give the kids positive memories and experiences. I just hope they never forget that winning isn't everything, its the friendships that you make a long the way that count. My song on the CD this year was "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey and I chose that song because it was the message I wanted to leave them with... never stop believing in yourself and your dreams because you can achieve anything and everything you set your mind to.

Tuesday brought back a lot of emotions that I wasn't expecting it to bring back. It was such a great night and reminded me that no matter where I coach in the future I will always have the memories and lessons that they taught me guiding my actions. I'm really grateful for the time I spent coaching there but I now see that it was a bad situation for me because of the people higher up on the totem pole than I was. I will always miss that team because they have given me so much, but it's now time to move on and take a break from coaching for a little bit.

Wednesday was hard because that's when all of the above hit me and it was just a lot to deal with in conjunction with being in the midst of the end of the semester and those stresses. ((Actually, as I type this I am thinking of things that I was supposed to do and didn't so I'm doing them too)) Anywho, there have been things throughout the week that have reminded me of happier times and there have been times that made me smile when I didn't think it was possible. One of these such instances was being sung part "My, Michelle" by the Beatles. Or getting a note in the mail from a speech parent about how thankful they were about me being a part of their lives. Or just the little moments when my friends reminded me of some great times just as I needed a good laugh.

I also got a quote of the day text this week that sings so true, it was: "music expresses that which cannot be put into words" ... I'm speechless, how true is that!

Well, my to do list of school work is quickly piling up, so I'm off to type a paper or two and study for my finals this coming week.

Love ya!