Siberian Soccer

I’m a weather guy. I like following extreme weather – from a safe distance of course. On Saturday morning Ethan had his first soccer game and the forecast looked a little cold. (40 degrees with wind and possible rain – which is pretty weird for KC in mid-April) I declared that I would be the brave parent to go tackle the elements so the Mrs. HTF could stay home with the kiddos. I told Ethan to go get ready and he came bounding down the stairs with his soccer shorts and short-sleeve jersey on. In the aggravating way that parents do, I told him repeatedly that he needed to wear more clothes cuz it was gonna be cold. He rolled his eyes and huffed so hard that he parted my hair . . . or at least would’ve parted my hair if I, you know, had some. He told me how “uncool” (that’s a nice word choice) he’d look wearing sweats and long sleeves. But I was the evil dad who made him bring warm clothes – though he wouldn’t actually put them on.

The second he got out of the Civic at the soccer field he jumped back in and put everything on.

It was FREEZING! The biting northern wind made me wonder if we were somewhere in Canada. He borrowed some gloves and did ok. I was forced to just stand and watch – along with all the other violently shivering parents. At least the kids got to run a little bit. The highlight was when a few little rain drops turned into sleet, and then into “sneet” (that’s a technical term created by me for the cross between snow and sleet) showers being blown at us sideways like we were in a dust storm. At one point it was full-on blizzard-like. I’m not a big soccer aficionado, but there’s no way kids should be playing soccer in weather like this, and I’m certain parents shouldn’t be standing/sitting watching kids play soccer in weather like this. But they trudged on – after the game some kids had to dig their parents out of piles of blankets and coats to let them know that the game was, you know, over. The smart parents stayed in the cars, or in the case of my omniscient wife, sent their spouses to the game. Let me know never be accused of being one of those smart parents! At the height of the icy blizzard I was warmed by a single profound thought –

I’m paying big money for this . . . awesome.