I need a "Mom's for Dummies" manual.

Well I went and watched Jessica's softball game today. She said she might get to be a pinch hitter, whatever that means. I figured that was good enough for me to go watch. She did get to go up to bat but ended up striking out.   So did several other girls. Almost all the juniors were sitting on the bench. MVP from last year? On the bench. The girls that were out on the field made error after error after error. The final score? 0 (us) to 11.

After the game was over the coach gave them his "pep talk" or whatever it was. LONG talk. I was waiting for Jess to get done so I could give her the energy drink that Trevor had bought for himself. Yeah like an 8 year old needs an energy drink. Anyhow, I was waiting for her so I could give her the drink. After the talk I could see her  wiping her eyes. I was hoping she was just having allergies. But no. She was crying. Apparently part of his pep talk was telling the girls that if you don't usually get to play, when you do get to play, you need to be extra extraordinarily. Pressure much? The coach told them that they have to pay their sports fee on Monday, $150.

I've known we were going to have to pay the sports fee, it's part of playing sports at the high school. I'm fine with paying the sports fee, especially this year when I won't have to drive her since they provide a bus to the games that are out of town. Jessica on the other hand was worried about the fees, especially since she hasn't been able to play. She asked the coach if she was going to play more  and he said he couldn't guarantee it so she told him she was going to quit. His response? "Okay"

So then she comes out of the dug out bawling. She's crying to me that he obviously didn't care if she was on the team. How she really likes playing softball but she hates being on the bench :cry:  I was pretty flabbergasted that the coach was so rude about her quitting.

I was standing there talking to her when the coach was leaving so I asked him if I could talk to him for a minute. I told him I was pretty disappointed in how he pretty much just wrote her off and didn't even offer to talk to her. I told him I thought he should be more encouraging. I also told him how I thought it was really sad that pretty much the whole team from last year is sitting on the bench and not getting any playing time. I told him I thought it would be nice if he could rotate the girls in a bit more, especially when they are losing so bad anyways. I told him it's really not about the money to me, it's about my kid getting some time to play. Especially when she's been going to every practice, every day, going to the games, missing hard classes at school and trying her hardest.

He was actually pretty nice after the first minute or two (when I asked him if it was a political thing, he didn't like that too much). He actually apologized for being so abrupt with her when she said she was going to quit. Told me that he thought I was right about several points and that when I apologized for kind of bombarding him, he said I did the right thing as a mom. He said he hopes she doesn't quit and to think about it more over the weekend.

When we left I Jess and I had to go separate ways since I had to park in a different parking lot. She sent me a text that said "I love you mom".

I tell you, being a mom is the hardest freaking thing in the world.