We had our final Rugby game of the season – We lost but I got 2 tries!
He said
Thursday this week I was lucky enough to be off which meant I was able to catch what might be Emelia’s last game of rugby in her high school career and quite possibly ever. She’s really come into her own this season as one of the seniors on the team. She carries the ball a lot more confidently and has quite a few tries (the football equivalent of a touchdown) this season. She’s added a bunch of new friends who are teammates and they have bonded well over the season as they hang out off the field now too. This, their last game of the season basically came down win and they have another game or lose a their season was done. The team they were up against (St Joseph’s CHS) had a better record on the season so they were in tough.
When I got to the game which was out in St Thomas on St Joe’s home field, the parking was a bit of a crap show, so I missed a bit of the start. But shortly in the time after I arrived St Joe’s got two or three tries — all I am pretty sure by the same girl who was very fast with the ball. But, also Emelia was looking really good too. She was getting in on tackles and having some good carries with the ball. In fact she got a try to get Lucas back into the game! But the best part was when she looked over to me as I waved congratulations she held up the number two sign with her hand which I learned after the game was her telling me that was her second try of the game—I had missed it when I was trying to figure out where to park. In the end they lost 34-22 but of Lucas’ 4 tries Emelia had 2 of them, and another her carries led to a try by her teammate as she passed off to her.
We’ve been getting over to see Mom as much as we can as her health is really starting to show her age and the reality of being in congestive heart failure for the last five or six years. She’s been having a lot more trouble with eating and breathing and in the last month has been moved to the palliative care of her family doctor from years ago, and he’s helping guide us through her deteriorating health. She has had some real tough days but like Dad has a way of bouncing back. The thing is in the last week though there has been a lot less rebounding so we’re anticipating that her body and mind are going through the same final stages that Dad went through. A lot of our conversations have been about how’s feeling tired and worn out. But in the last week she’s sleeping a lot more and having a hard team finishing sentences. So we’re trying to ensure we get over there every chance we can—as is the rest of the family.
Emelia—impatiently so–has been waiting for us to make more obvious headway on her suite in the basement. What she doesn’t understand (or see the value of) is all the things that had to happen in order for her to have the step that makes her feel a lot more closer to the finish line: the wall to divide off her space. We got a lot more stuff moved around from all the three rooms affected by this move for Emelia. In fact, Danielle got a major chunk of the room jockeying done while I was at work yesterday. Today I got her TV moved downstairs and mounted on the wall. And, today we got the door hardware and more of the 2×4’s we’ll need to start the wall. Emelia will be finally happy as this week I should be able to make a big start on that wall and then I think she will finally see progress that makes sense to her.
She said
This was another very busy week for all of us especially Emelia but I will get to that in a few minutes. This week was the start of a new career path for me. On Tuesday I started my new role at Kings University College. And in very short order I realized that I did make the right move—everyone has been so kind and welcoming. My new boss is so kind and encouraging and the whole team has been doing everything to make sure I feel right at home. The added icing on the cake of a great first day was coming home to flowers from Emelia to congratulate me on my new job. The first week went really well and I am already feeling settled in and at home.
After work for both John and I as you can see has been balancing so many things—balancing Emelia’s sports and school work, balancing the failing health of Helen and getting over to her nursing home to visit her multiple times this week. Her health is failing fast and it is heartbreaking for all of us to sit beside another family member as they are slowly being taken away from us. We have been spending as much time as we can sharing these moments together as a family. I know this has been hard on all of us but even Emelia said this week she isn’t sure she can do it again, watch another one of her favourite people fade in front of her. It’s been a hard 18 months for the family and all we want is for Helen to be at peace and comfortable surrounded by her family.
Between balancing it all we are trying to enjoy the small things in life, like Emelia’s last few weeks of high school, seeing her grow and spend time with her friends. Emelia friend circle keeps growing. She has her core friends but she also has all these smaller branches of other amazing friends that we love seeing her spend time with. She has gelled so much with her rugby team that she has been hanging out a lot with the girls on the team when she isn’t with her core group of friends. I have told her to try and take in all these last few weeks, that so much will change once high school is done. Most of her friends got their university and college offers this past week and so many are staying local but a lot are going away. The people she sees everyday that are part of her inner circle will change. The people who are part of her fundental years will soon become the people of her past. She is taking it all in.
If this week wasn’t busy enough with cheer tryouts, wrapping up her rugby season and the early softball season Emelia is taking on another sport through school. In a few weeks there is a one day flag football tournament that is a fundraiser. It is all girls called the Powderpuff and they girls are coached by a few boys each on the school football team. Some of Emelia’s friends asked her to be on their team so we are adding football to her list of sports. And if that wasn’t enough Emelia’s cheer gym was looking for some stunt groups to come downtown this week to cheer on the crowds at the London Knight block party as the local OHL team is in the drive for the memorial cup and the cheerleaders were part of the pre game hype. So Emelia went down with some of her friends tonight (and will be down again for a few more in the next few days) to do some basic stunting and to cheer on the crowd. It was a fun experience and the kids all had a blast!
The rest of this coming week will be balancing everything for Emelia. She is days away from her prom so all the final prep is underway and the kids are in countdown mode. The girls have spent months dreaming of this night, the hairstyles are planned, the nail designs are decided and the dresses are perfection. Wednesday Emelia and her besties area all going out to get their nails done and then Thursday they will spend the morning getting ready and then off to get pictures done as a group with their dates before they are off to Grand Bend for the big event. Emelia is so excited. The girls and admittedly the guys are all looking forward to the big night. It has all gone by so fast, it seems like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital and now we are in the last 6 weeks of high school. The years go by so fast.