Football season begins

Football season is back and I have the same darn mixed emotions I do every year. I have grown up with this my whole life so of course it brings excitement, but also a little bit of stress. For those that may wonder what stresses a football coach may face they include (but are not limited to):

*Each game is a public reflection of your husband's job. A loss is bad a win is great. But so many factors go into these games including injuries, players daily performance, another team's preparation - it feels panicky and odd to not have any control. The worst things about a loss include the public coming up to you for the following week making casual comments when you're already stressing about said loss. Basically the stress surrounds the fact that these jobs are judged on wins and losses on 16 Sundays when 365 days of work have been done.
*The hours are tough. I stress my husband is eating well enough, working out, sleeping enough. People are often shocked to hear he goes in at 4 am on a typical weekday in football season and may not come home until 10, 11 or even later. As the week goes on the hours typically lighten but it is hard to watch him deteriorate at times physically throughout the season. I worry but I also know that there is no other job that would make him as happy so I do my best to support him in any way I can.
*I am pretty much in constant worry about our next job / move. This lifestyle is very transient and even though I have moved my whole life (born in New Orleans, Louisiana and have moved to Massachusetts, Texas, California, back to Texas, Wisconsin, Washington, back to Wisconsin, Nebraska, back to Texas, Florida, Ohio and now back to California. Yup.) it unfortunately doesn't get any easier. Having kids and moving their records or watching them struggle moving schools has been a bigger challenge than I envisioned and given me so much respect for how my mom handled it all growing up (with 5 kids!). She is a saint.

Those are just a few of the stresses I can think of off the top of my head. Here are some other goods and bad things about football season for a football wife.....

Good
Forced Independence
Before getting married to a football coach, I wouldn't have said that I was or wasn't independent. Probably somewhere in the middle. I enjoy my alone time but I love being social and around people. One thing about being a football wife is that is you have no choice but to be independent. Whether this means being the sole person responsible for the kids, household maintenance, car maintenance, or bills you are going to be the sole person responsible for everything during the season. I have removed dead lizards, fixed garage doors, been the house plumber, put lights in with ladders, put 2 kids to bed for 245 nights in a row alone. You learn to do it and you move on. And then when the spring comes and he's home at 5:45 I don't quite know what to do with myself, with help.

That is called the transition period. Every season when football begins, I have to get used to life without his help. Then when it's over, I have to get used to the fact that he is now actually looking at our account and the $200 Target bill. I think overall I have learned to be independent, asked for help if I am truly needing it, and to be, more than anything, self sufficient. Having a bad day? Up to me to get myself out of it. Insurance problem? Up to me to spend hours on the phone dealing with it. I have learned I am a much better plumber, electrician, and lizard warden than I would have guessed. Today my good friend Lisa's husband, who is my unofficial helper of all things, taught me how to program my garage door remotes and remove a door handle that was busted. In the past I have probably been too quick to assume I can't do the task at hand and the older I have gotten I am more open to learning to do things and taking on more household knowledge. It feels good to let go of assumed gender roles and feel confident that I can get just about anything done. And the money I am saving on a handyman can go straight to Anthropologie, thank you very much.

Bad
Lonely. Any way you cut it, not seeing your husband 95% of the evenings stretching from July 26 until mid January is hard. I miss him and I miss having someone to talk to. I find myself midseason striking up conversations with the nail tech, the dressing room attendant at Old Navy, any living and breathing person at the park. My poor mailman practically drives at 13 mph past my house and throws my mail out in fear that I am going to talk his ear off. I miss adult conversation and might have gone 20 hours without it! I miss my sounding board and quite frankly I miss my husband's hunky body. But with that being said it can be good to miss somebody. I appreciate him more and realize that I kind like when he's around.

If you have any questions about what this crazy lifestyle is like feel free to ask me, I love writing about this because it is theraputic for me! Off to my oldest's flag football practice for this mama :)
Love, Big Mama Taylor