Football Camp

Nathan had never been away from home for more than one night so when the time came for him to leave for football camp I was a little blue but I was mostly excited for him because I knew he would have fun.
We talked to him about our concerns and gave him advice but we also told him to enjoy himself. We got to the high school a little early and no one was there.

Riley didn't want brother to leave. He would say, "but I'm going to miss you" and gushing all over Nathan.

All at once the other boys began to arrive. Football camp was held at Evergreen State in Olympia which is about an hour away. The players that had their own cars which was mostly the seniors left pretty quickly, the others hitched rides with mom's that had the space and were going to drive them. Good thing one of the moms drives those big vans and she was able to take 9 boys. I got her information and waved Nathan goodbye {because you know it's not "cool" to give your high schooler a hug in front of his peers. I mean I could care less but I definitely don't want to embarrass him}.

I couldn't believe Nathan was gonna be gone for four days. I was a little sad once I left the school, Riley was crying. Knowing that Nathan wouldn't be home for days made the house feel a little empty ... but only on this first day because by the second day I was fine, lol.

I guess I didn't worry because we decided to give him a cell phone a year earlier than planned ... mainly because he went to camp or else we would have waited until his 16th birthday to give him a cell phone.

We texted each other about 3-4 times a day. He would tell us that the food was horrible as cafeteria food usually is. Ha ha! I'm sure he was missing my home cooked meals. The cool part of camp, I thought, was that each boy got to sleep in their own dorm. They didn't have to share rooms only the bathroom. Some boys stayed up late but Nathan can never stay awake past eleven. The coaches worked them out hard. I felt bad because it was hotter in Olympia so I made sure to remind him to drink lots of water/gatorade and he would tell us how sore he was and how he got hit hard during practice one day and ended up getting a large bruise on his right shoulder.


And here he is the day I picked him up. He was all smiles. We sure missed him.

I don't think I'm ready for any of my kids to be away from home for a long period of time. Once they do leave home I'm gonna tell them to visit every 2-3 days.

Happy to have him back!