2021 Life Logs, Day 289: Ollie’s Soccer Game; Planning Afternoon
Date: Saturday, October 16, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 73, Low Temp 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Life moves so fast that there are times when you need to take a day to step back, look ahead, and do a little planning. So, after Ollie’s soccer game this morning, I spent the rest of the day thinking and planning. Justin called last night, and we talked for a long time about their upcoming visit here for Thanksgiving and our planned visit to Puerto Rico during school vacation week next April. Since both visits involve me, Justin and family, and Heather and family, planning for food, lodging, and activities can get a little complicated. What are we going to eat? Where are we going to stay? What are we going to do? I figure if I start coming up with ideas now and share them, that will give everyone else a chance to give feedback so I can tweek the plans. But in order to come up with plans, I first have to ‘survey’ everyone and get some idea of their expectations. I worked mostly on food today. Jo and Ziggy both avoid gluten and dairy, but there are a few exceptions made on special occasions. Jo sent me guidelines for that today. Jed has certain food allergies, Heather is trying to eat a mostly vegetarian diet, and Sam really only eats meat. I avoid gluten and dairy in general, but I don’t have the severe reactions that Jo and Ziggy have. You get the picture. Planning three meals a day for six days that meet everyone’s needs is a little tricky. Since it has been over two years since we have seen each other, we certainly don’t want to spend our time together wrangling over what we are going to eat! That needs to be done ahead of time. Heather has been working on this as well and she and Jed have ordered the turkey for Thanksgiving. Everyone will eat turkey, some more than others, but at one decision has been made. We will have turkey for Thanksgiving. I got a good start on planning today and will continue in the coming weeks. We have time, but somehow, I feel like Thanksgiving will be here before we know it. And ready or not, I can’t wait! Two years (because of Covid) is too long.
Soccer at Ollie’s age level is so much fun to watch because the kids are having so much fun. The kids are rotated around constantly so they are playing different positions, so there are no superstars in any one position. 
But Ollie is enjoying being goalie so much that his coach let him be in that position for most of the game today. He was obviously very proud of that fact because at the end of the game he came over to me to ask if I noticed that he got to play goalie for most of the game. I assured him that I noticed, and he grinned from ear to ear. I am going to be out of town next Friday and Saturday and will miss his game, but soccer continues on into November so there will be more games to enjoy before the season ends.
