Monday, October 08, 2012

The One about McDaniel's Almost Basketball Coach


We live close to a major university. So major that it insists that you refer to it with a THE at the beginning.

No, it's not THE Harvard.


People park on our street to walk to the campus for football games.

A lot of people.

So my daughters have been setting up a lemonade stand since they were little.

My dad made them an awesome one on wheels with an umbrella and everything.

But I digress…

During a typical lemonade stand football Saturday, my oldest daughter, McDaniel, noticed her future basketball coach and boyfriend parking on our street.

Her self-conscious 13-year-old attempts to holler hi

(think barely audible throaty whisper) 

failed.

So she and her sister and a neighbor girl decided to decorate future basketball coach's Jeep while they were at the game.

Complete with We LOVE You Coach poster.

Balloons.

And crepe paper.

In her excitement that she was actually included on something with her big sister, Ellie decided to throw a full roll of crepe paper from one side of the Jeep to the other.

She either misjudged the wind direction (or the power of her throwing arm) because the full roll landed right in the Jeep.

Remember? 
No roof, 
no windows, 
no doors. 
Jeep.

Not wanting to make this fun surprise a crime, they chose not to go in after it.

I'm proud of that fact.

They went inside to wait out the game and watch for the coach's return.

Somehow we all missed it.

The next week at school, McDaniel popped in to her future coach's office.

Did I mention she is McDaniel's gym teacher? 

A letter-giving-on-the-report-card teacher?

The coach said she'd been waiting for McDaniel to stop by. She asked to hear McDaniel's version of the story before she shared her version.

Can anyone else hear the theme to The Godfather?

McDaniel couldn't get an accurate read on if she was about to get into trouble or receive a hearty thank you for the gesture.

So she told her story. 
(see above)

Then Coach told hers.
(see below)

She and her boyfriend left the football game early (I guess that's why we missed them).

From a bit of a distance, they could see "stuff" on their car.

She and her boyfriend wondered if it was for him 

(he's a football coach) 

or her 

(she coaches volleyball and basketball). 

They also considered the possibility that maybe it wasn't "happy" decorations but maybe "unhappy" vandalism. What if they had angered the owners of the house they parked in front of and they let them know it with a meanly worded poster, balloons and crepe paper?

What?!
I know. I am just repeating the story as it was told to me.

When they made it back to the car and saw that the decorations were indeed "happy" and the poster signed by my daughter and her friend, she laughed until she cried.

She was touched. 

Awww…

She hung the poster up when she got home and tore off the decorations. She even called her mom to tell her of the touching expression of love.

Sunday found the coach driving down the highway going normal highway speed. Something caught her eye in the rear view mirror.

A very l-o-n-g something. 

Remember that roll of crepe paper that Ellie mis-tossed?

 It was mis-tossed right under the driver's seat. 

By the time Coach got a good look at the crepe paper tail it was trailing SEVERAL car lengths.

She sped up a bit thinking it would have to tear soon. 

It didn't.

Good to know! I bought it at the dollar store.

Then she began to worry about the police pulling her over for speeding


AND for trailing a mile-long piece of purple crepe paper.

So she pulled herself over.

And tore the seriously strong crepe paper 

and stuck the rest of the role in her glove box.

Then she swore revenge on two girls who happened to see her park on a football Saturday. 

Gulp. 
When are basketball tryouts again?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Burning Down

The other day I was listening to the podcast The Next Right Thing. It was the episode titled Reflection as Activism.  Emily P. Freeman said ...