It has been a crazy week at Grandview Preparatory School. Our boys made it to the state finals in basketball, and today they played in the championship game.
The school has been in a state of chaos all week. On Monday, everyone was riding the high of a big win over the weekend. No one could settle down long enough to get any learning done. On Tuesday, the players and cheerleaders were sent off with a big pep rally, complete with red carpet entrances, trivia games, and "Dancing with the Stars" (our center, 6-foot-9 "ID" did the cutest dance with a precious kindergartener). Yesterday, hardly anyone was in school, as we had sent two fan buses to the semi-final game (about four hours away), and those who were listened to the live broadcast of the game, which ended in another big win for the Pride!
Today was the championship game, and I wanted to go. I could have taken a chaperon spot on one of the fan buses, but the day was going to be altogether more fun for me if Brandon came along. And I did not want to subject him to the fan bus. (I might get paid to chaperon 80 rowdy kids, but he couldn't get paid enough to want that job!) So I asked him if he would want to drive the four hours to the game. Since he was off work anyway, he said he was game (no pun intended).
So, we got up early and drove the four hours to Lakeland. It's not a horrible drive through Florida's countryside (yes, there is one here), but it does get boring when it's that long. But we played music and talked and were in high spirits when we arrived. Not so when we left...
Our boys had played a great game, but they could not pull out their last win. Of course, we were all immensely proud of them for their second-place finish, but it's hard to make the four-hour drive back to Boca after such a tough loss. I have a feeling the fan bus was pretty quiet as it made its way across the state.
But I can't be sure because I was, once again, in the car with my husband for four more hours. We didn't get home until after seven, having spent a total of eight hours in the car and only about two at the game. As Brandon pulled into our driveway (and I woke up from a little nap), I was struck by the sacrifice he had made for me. Brandon is 100 percent supportive of my job and its extra requirements, but he doesn't like basketball all that much, and he certainly could have thought of some better things to do with 10 hours than escort me to some silly high school state final. And yet, he chose to give up his day off, spend eight hours in the car with me, and cheer on my team.
Now that's a good husband.
