What a Difference a Week Makes!

Last Friday I believe I was whining about how spring was never going to come.  Well, of course I was being melodramatic and was wrong, because (finally!!!) there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  I am officially announcing that spring has arrived at our house (can you hear the trumpet fanfare playing?).

Evidence includes big daffodils:

And small daffodils:

And happy children (Ben saying "YES! I can play outside after breakfast!"):

Sidenote: Doesn't Caroline have great style?

I know I couldn't pull off hearts, stripes, cowboy boots, and print and still look adorable.

AND....there is more of a spring in my step too, after umpiring a couple of back-to-back fabulous high school lacrosse match-ups:  close games, big crowds, screaming fans, and excellent contests.  It's really quite fun to be a part of it.  Kind of a weird combination of nervousness and calmness and intense concentration and sprinting.  

What I finally accepted at yesterday's hotly contested ChesMont league game, is that lacrosse fans have really no idea what they are screaming about.  Seriously.  First, many fans do not know difference between men's and women's lacrosse.  (Note to loud father in row 3, we do not have "face-offs" in girl's lacrosse. Also, a good percentage of checks are actually legal. Shocking, right?).  Second, as umpire, you know actually standing on the field, I usually have a better look at the play.  For example, I do probably have the better look at an out-of-bounds call at 3-10 feet away compared to you sitting 200 yards away on an angle. 

While I had always understood that I am better at umpiring than those sitting in the bleachers, I still somewhat paid attention to what people were saying out there.  Thoughts like, oh, you think that was shooting space?  Hmmm, maybe I had better watch for shooting space more.... Yesterday, though, the fans were completely screaming about EVERY foul called by an umpire who I know to be top of the game -- one of our International umpires (like she umpires the World Cup in foreign countries International umpire).  And, she was calling a great game.  I know she was. 

So, I had an epiphany, mid-game, that if the fans are even going to scream and heckle someone like that, of course they are also going to scream at me.  And WHO CARES what you all think.  And, then it happened, the wave of total calmness washed over me. The wave I've been hoping and hoping for -- I knew it was out there because you can see it in the body language of some officials and you can hear it in their voices.  The game slowed down even more for me.  Well, the game was still moving at the same pace.  But, a wave of clarity washed over me.  I knew where to be and what to look for. And, I settled further into the game, and enjoyed last every minute of it.  Even when there was only a one-goal difference with one minute to play -- total calmness.   Zen umpiring.