cue Huey Lewis: BACK IN TIME, back to my birthday

(Picking up where we left off on our quest to return stuff at the mall - next stop REI):  Coach and I wrapped up a backpack of Coach's for Christmas and gave it to Ed. Translation:  go pick out a backpack to use on your abroad adventure, on us.

He had a recommendation from Ryland's sister. I flagged down an employee at REI and he answered Ed's questions, and fit him with the desired bag. The line was crazy long, so I added the backpack to my online cart and away we went. Sort of . . . 

The REI employee was an older, very knowledgeable gentleman. Understatement. He was incredibly thorough. We had a hard time walking away despite our need to get to Reg's basketball game. This guy was a hoot, and we loved him. He closed his eyes when he spoke, took long pauses, and offered to answer any questions from Ed's oversized fan club/shopping buddies. At one point, he conducted a practice round of what a hostel employee might ask Ed at check in. "Do you need to rent sheets? Do you need to rent a towel? Do you need to use laundry facilities? See, this is how they can charge you extra. I recommend the sleep sack. Most kids traveling abroad get one." * I added it to my cart. 

I wanted to take this guy home with us in case we had any other questions about life in general, because I'm pretty sure he'd be able to answer those too. When we finally walked to the car, Tank said:  THERE'S NO WAY THAT GUY WASN'T AN EAGLE SCOUT. 

We arrived at Reg's game a few minutes late,  (I drafted this earlier in the season, but other stuff kept cropping up in the busy times of chez shenanigan. . . so mind you, this is a LOOK BACK) which had Curly, Reg's biggest fan, in a small tizzy. Oh man, this game. We were down by over 10 points. 

Reg played games each day that week. The Thursday game, on my b-day, was the last one. We'd lost every game. A couple of teams dropped out due to covid, and on Wednesday we ended up playing a team that we had no business playing - out of our league. Against them, Reg tried a few shots and they just weren't landing. Every time he missed a shot, and by missed I mean that it looked good- not an air ball, the coach yanked him from the game. And we're talking like 4 missed shots, not 15. He made some hoops too. 

Not my birthday cake, but this was
 Reg's cake. Can't remember if I
 shared it. The girls decorated it. He
 had covid Jan 9th but we sang
 to him from across the room. 

Hold.ME.BACK. For real. I wanted to stomp up to that coach and holler in his face:  DON'T MESS WITH MY KID'S CONFIDENCE YOU DUMB ASS. PULL HIM EVERY TIME HE MISSES A SHOT THAT'S CLOSE BUT JUST DOESN'T FALL AND YOU'LL END UP WITH A KID WHO IS AFRAID TO SHOOT. 

Why are some people dumb? So frustrating. Remember too, Reggie is young to be playing varsity. He doesn't have the experience an older, more seasoned player has. 

Happily, a senior 'Duffy', who was out with a broken finger at the start of the season, gave Reg some good advice early on. During the game when Reg scored 22 points, Duffy approached him during a time out PRIOR to his huge scoring streak. 

Duffy:  IT'S OK THAT YOU MISS SOME SHOTS. JUST KEEP SHOOTING. YOUR SHOTS LOOK GOOD. 

How nice is that? Encouragement from an older teammate means so much. 

So . . . on my birthday we were down the entire game, by over 10 points. In the 4th quarter, we came alive. Duffy hit a 3. Reg hit a 3. Duffy hit another 3. 

All Reg's games had been early in the day in the tournie, till that last game, so Coach made dinner reservations without realizing that we'd have to leave Reg's game early. Coach gave me the 'let's go' sign and I insisted we stay a few minutes longer. When we finally left, I told Tank and Ed to text us. It was hard to leave an exciting game, but Tank delivered with his play by plays. 

My phone exploded. I was calling out who scored every few seconds. Right in the middle of these updates, Pat and each of his children texted me birthday wishes from Disney World. It was comical. I was trying to read the score from Tank and a message with a million cake and balloon emojis would pop up from Pat & his people. "Two minutes left, we're up by (insert birthday emojis here) - wait, balloons, ack, stop it . . . wait, another text from Tank. AHHH!  WE WON! WE WON!" 

So very happy to see Reg break out of his afraid-to-shoot mode and his teammates stepped up too. So exciting. 

This was my family dinner a few days after my
 birthday. Note, Reg and Tank are wearing matching
 fluffy pullovers. Tank was very excited about
 opening this on Christmas until Reg AND Coach
 opened the same thing. When they were marked
 down even more, I bought one for Lad. I know
 he had a navy one like this in college, but he
 doesn't anymore. Ed said he didn't need one.
This has replaced Reg's Cobra Kai
 sweatshirt as his new daily uniform. 

Dinner was nice, but I've told Coach that since the kids are no longer guaranteed to spill at least 2 drinks during a meal, and they don't spit food back on their plates anymore, and they manage not to need to use the bathroom as soon as our food arrives, I think they can be included in my eating-out-birthday dinners. What do ya know, we've gone and grown us kids who can be part of polite society? It took some convincing, but we ate dinner out Sunday night as a family to re-celebrate my birthday. 

It was a less pricey place, Chilis, but still tasty. 

After dinner, we watched some Jim Gaffigan, the comedian, with the kids. They were hollering at me because I was falling asleep on the couch. HEY, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DRINK A GLASS OF WINE WITH DINNER, NOT LIKE I HAVEN'T WARNED YOU.