What is a Weekend, Anyway?

“I wish I had one more day before the weekend started,” a fellow crew mom said to me.  I knew exactly what she meant.  This weekend, we will be making our Return to Coastweeks in Mystic, CT, one of the our favorite regattas of the year.  But not without a few stops along the way.

            Christian rowed or coxy’d boats in Mystic in 2013, 2012, and 2011.  Our first time going up, there were about a dozen athletes.  Last year, there were 45 athletes, this year I believe we have 52, including the Adult Rowers (you guessed it, that would be me and my Rowing BFF, Kathe).  That’s a really big contingency.  This is the first year I’m going to Mystic and Christian is not in a boat.  He’s on the Freshman Football team for Don Bosco Prep.

            Therefore, the weekend looks like this.  Friday at 4 pm, Kathe and I went to our own Rowing practice.  Then, we generally milled around waiting for our kids to get done loading the trailer with the crew shells we are taking up, meaning we left the Boathouse at 8 pm.   My rowing kids slept over because we have an early start Saturday morning.

            Christian has to be at Don Bosco in NJ at 6:30 am Saturday, and we will leave Newburgh with our rowing kids at 7:30 am to watch his football game in Darien, CT, where we will cheer wildly and I will take photographs (GO IRONMEN!).  Then I will pack the rowers into the Team Mom Mobile and head up to Mystic, CT.  We will meet up with Big Coach and the Newburgh Rowing Club trailer and help unload and rig the boats.  Then dinner and at least one of us (Yep, that would be me) is going to bed super early.  There is a coaches, coxswain and scullers meeting at 7:30 am at the Regatta course Sunday morning.

            First, Kathe and I will race, then my rowing kids.  In the meantime, much bonding will have occurred on the football field, and in and amongst the boats.  We have Student Ambassadors, rowing for us on scholarship, who have never left Newburgh before.  These girls are so excited to be going to Mystic, there are really no words.  I am so happy to know I was a part of making that happen. We will all cheer wildly for each other and then, eventually, after the last boat is loaded, it will be quiet. 

            By the time I get home and start writing my press release for the Regatta, I will be slathering on the Icy Hot, snuggling into my electric blanket and it will be Sunday night.  And there goes the “Weekend”.

            But that’s how it is for so many of us, who are lucky enough to have active families.   A friend of mine who’s an empty nester said to me recently:  “That’s how it is, it’s very loud and very boisterous all the time, and then all of a sudden, it gets very, very  quiet.”  I cannot even imagine that concept right now. 

            Once upon a time, my husband and I enjoyed long, languorous weekends.  We slept late (you know, past 6 am), we enjoyed elaborate brunches involving brioche and espresso, and nights out with friends listening to Jazz, going to the theatre and symphony, dressing up in designer clothes, and enjoying gourmet meals.  And those days will return again someday, God willing, although we will be substantially grayer. 

            Until then, we will continue to enjoy the blessing that is our Loud, Busy, Active, Crazy “Weekend.” Frankly, I wouldn’t want to have it any other way!

Have a great day, everyone, and as always, Remember to Count Your Blessings! <3 Mrs. Lo www.LoBiondoPage.Blogspot.com (photo of Michael and Kierstin at Coastweeks 2013)