Some Days Just Aren't Your Day

Friday was one of those days that if it could go wrong it did. Parker had football camp this week. In lieu of having a big final scrimmage game for parents on the last day like last year, arrangements were made to have John Brantley, quarterback of the Florida Gator football team spend time with the kids working on skills and sign autographs. Then he was to head over to the regular YMCA camp at the church to see the kids there. The Brantley family is big in Ocala - John Brantley graduated from Trinity Catholic High School here, his dad is the head football coach there, and his grandfather was the one who started the Marion County Youth Football league (he also built the new Skyway Bridge in St. Pete).

We sent a very excited Parker off to camp wearing his Gator jersey and armed with a mini-helmet to be signed. The kids made a banner and had a plaque to present. The Y had also arranged for Ocala magazine and the Star-Banner newspaper to be present to cover the event. Only John Brantley did not show up. His grandfather died last Saturday, and apparently he forgot about his appointment with the Y. Parker and the other kids understandably were VERY disappointed, but they have wonderful coaches who pumped them up and helped them finish out the week of football camp strong.

Then we headed out for basketball on Friday night. Wesley's game was at 5:30pm with practice beforehand at 5:15pm. When we showed up there were a few kids there on his side, but no coach. And the coach has two kids on the team. One of the parents and the referee jumped in to lead practice. Game time arrived and still no coach or his family. So the parent continued to coach and the kids played their game as scheduled. As we were leaving the gym after shaking hands and receiving our snack, coach and his family very nonchalantly walked into the gym. At this age group practice gets started at either 5:15pm or 6:00pm. For the last several weeks Wesley's team had played at 6:00pm. Coach forgot to read the schedule and missed the time change.

So we tried to redeem the day by trying something different for dinner - instead of our usual McDonalds, we went to Sonic and ate outside. They did screw up the kids' orders BUT they were so very gracious that we ended up with an extra cheeseburger and corndog out of the deal for the boys to split. After Parker finished up his basketball game, we called it a night!