Small miracles

I'm sad to report that Jake's grandfather passed away yesterday morning. He had recently been moved from his home to the V.A. hospital facility in Portland Maine to go into hospice care. His dementia had been progressing for quite some time but it had gotten progressively worse more quickly since we saw Jake's grandparents last July. We knew that it was coming. Thursday evening there was a call from my mother-in-law reporting that he had taken a real turn for the worse. It doesn't help it hurt any less, though.

We followed through with our plans for the day, to go to the Screaming Eagles tailgate in the afternoon followed by the DC United match against the Colorado Rapids in the evening. It was better than hanging out at home, for sure. What we didn't expect was quite a pleasant surprise. After arriving at the tailgate we picked up our tickets, grabbed a couple of beers and hit up the food line. The sky was gray and rain was threatening so the tailgate was more thinly attended than usual. After our meal we settled into some competitive Uno in the back of our vehicle. Next thing we know we're surrounded by a gaggle of young soccer girls. Their parents had set up their tailgate across the lot from us but had forgotten to bring a ball for the girls to play with. We didn't have one to offer but we offered them our attention and company, much to the delight of their parents, for over an hour. These girls, aged 8-9, were the SYA Cardinals of Centreville/Clifton, a club in the Old Dominion Soccer League. They were members of the travel team which means they had to try out for their team and obviously had skills. In typical 3rd grade fashion though, they joked with and teased Jake a lot while telling me how awesome I was. They made us laugh, a lot, for the remainder of the afternoon and I can't thank them enough. We showed up at the event feeling heavy and discouraged and we headed into the game with our hearts full of joy as a result of these girls. We learned they were at the game to receive a special sportsmanship award, which is awesome. I'm not much of a spiritual person but I can't help but think that these girls were sent our way to help us through what would have been a tough afternoon. They don't know it, but I will be eternally thankful. I wanted to take a photo of them all gathered around Jake but given their age I didn't feel it would be appropriate.

The rain held out until there was about 20 minutes left in the game. United ended in a tie with Colorado. They didn't look as good as they usually do. Hopefully they'll pull out another win at our next match. The sun is trying to peak out today so we're headed out to finally get some plants for our balcony.