Team...WHAT?!!!

Team Mom.

That's me.  I got railroaded. Really I did.

In a moment of weakness I told the coach's wife (who has 5 boys) and was acting as stand in team mom that I would do the job if absolutely no one took the job by Wednesday.  That was last week.  Today is Wednesday.  Our first game is Friday.

When I got the call from the coach today at noon I knew I was the chosen one.  The one who won the prized position by default.  Because no other mom in their right mind would ever volunteer to be a team mom for Mililani Baseball.

Our short conversation knocked my socks off.  Not only did we have a game on Saturday (a mere 3 days away, but we had a second game on Sunday and a potluck to follow.  Expletive, cuss words.  I had so much to do.  How the heck was I going to get everything ready by 4:30 practice?  My head was spinning.  I don't do anything half-assed.  Need to print out roster, create a team newsletter, create a potluck sign up sheet...but more importantly, need to meet my girl "T" for Ladies Who Lunch 'n Lulu (to be explained at a later date).

Yes, this van driving soccer mommy baseball team mommy needed to escape the life for a bit for girlfriend time.

But really, if you know me you know that I can't fully enjoy myself when a task needs to be done.  The damn slow salad man at Nordies Cafe was making me crazy (20 minutes for 4 salads) and I was ready to pull my hair out!!  Luckily, our time at Lulu was relaxing and took my mind off (for a little while) of all the stuff I had to do as soon as I got home and before the meeting I had to hold at practice.

Before I left I made my girl T swear and promise me one thing.  To never let me turn into that baseball mommy.  You know the one.  Team baseball t-shirt, matching visor, jeans shorts, Nike shoes, and carrying a backpack.  Please don't call me a snob because there's nothing wrong with that baseball mommy.  I just refuse to become that mom.

You see, of all the things in life, a baseball team mom is probably the last thing I ever thought I would be.  Baseball Coach?  Yes.  Baseball Manager? Sure.  Team Mom?  Never!!!  When I think about who I am I never see the qualities of a team mom.  I am not overly mothering.  I don't conform.  I refuse to socialize at the park until 8 pm at night.  And I don't think I particularly have much in common with other moms.  I'm just sorta anti-social that way.

But here I am forced into a role that I need to play and play well.  I need to be that one happy smiling mom who brings the team together, is always smiling and making small talk, remembers everyone's names and organizes all the stuff.  The organizing I got.  The smiling and being nice.  Not so much.

Or maybe it's just that my mom has always been a role model for me.  She coached and or managed every team I played one.  She was never the mom behind the scenes.  She was the mom in charge.  She knew more than snacks.  She knew the rules of the game, the strategies, the skills.  And she brought out the fighter in all of us.  She was never one to comfort our scrapes or worry about potlucks.

And so with only 5 hours of notice I was forced to learn the game and play it well.  I arrived at practice, did a short run to get the nerves out and held a Parent Meeting.  It wasn't the best meeting I have ever held but considering the circumstances I think I did pretty well.  I distributed my team letter, got parents to sign up for our potluck, and even made small talk with a couple of really nice moms (one is a runner too and we talked about compression sleeves and racing, one is a mother of three boys with a deployed husband who offered to give my kids hand me down pants).

The small victory gave me some false confidence and led me to come home, send out more emails and create a damn team website.  Two hours later I had no idea that I did baseball team mom work straight through my schedule Weights Work out.

And so I begin a new chapter in my life.  My name is Aurene.  I am 40 years old. I have two kids.  I drive a van. I coach soccer.  I am a baseball team mom.

But I will always carry my Louis Vuitton bag to the field.  True, I now wear sneakers to the field but they are running shoes.  High end running shoes and I am wearing them with Lululemon workout wear.

And my dear friend T, if you ever see me wearing a backpack if it's not one by Louis Vuitton, you just shoot me, okay?