Life After Windbird, Day 64: Soccer x 3 plus Beach and Bike
Date: Saturday, October 15, 2016
Weather: Mostly Sunny, High 50’s, Low 40’s F
Location: At Home at The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I’ll sleep soundly tonight. This was a day filled with outdoor activities with the Goldpebbles. Heather had to work today and Jed, Sam, and Jonah had to be on Cub Scout popcorn sale duty this morning, so I took Ollie to his soccer game—the first of the day at 10:30 am at the field just down the street from my apartment. Unfortunately, Ollie had announced to Heather ahead of time that he was not going to play, and he basically stuck to that with the exception of one short stint on the field with his friend Simon. Ollie and Simon were born on the same day one hospital room away from each other and neither one of them wanted to play soccer today. At one point, Simon’s dad was able to convince them that they are almost like twins and that they could be on the field and just be ghosts of each other.
It worked for a few minutes, but once they realized people could see them, they were off the field again. We had two hours between soccer game number one and soccer game number two, so Sam and Jonah went with Jed and Ollie stayed with me. 
Ollie rode his strider bike, we ate lunch, and then we headed back to the field for Jonah’s game. Jonah plays with all his heart and soul. He moves so fast that when he gets hit, he sort of flies through the air and does what Jed calls the ‘Jonah flop’ on the ground. But he is always right back up and on his way again. I love the way he constantly works to keep team spirits high, giving others a big thumbs up when they make good moves.
After this game, Sam went one way with friends, Jonah went another way with a different friend, and Ollie went with me. Again we had two hours until the next game. Ollie opted to go to the beach and the two of us really enjoyed the sand and sunshine.
At 4:30, we arrived at a different soccer field for Sam’s soccer game. Heather was able to join us for this one and we closed out the soccer day on a high note. Jed is the coach of Sam’s team and even though they lost by one point, it was a very exciting game. Sam is really turning into a good, aggressive defense player. He is on a team with Ethan, a friend from pre-school days, and it is almost scary to watch them grow up right before my eyes. They looked more like teenagers on the field this afternoon than the little boys I have watched play soccer for the last five, almost six, years.
Tomorrow is a fall harvest day. I will go to Heather and Jed’s in the morning to make chutney from the apples they picked in Maine. And then we will walk down to the cranberry bogs to harvest left-over cranberries. The big harvest happened on Thursday and Friday, so we’ll pick through the berries left behind.
