Anybody that knows me knows that I am obsessed with soccer aka the best sport in the world. At the young age of 5 my parents had me and my sister join a peewee soccer league which was my first real exposure to the sport. A couple years later my sister continued playing and went to a try out for a travel team. I went to the try out as a spectator with my dad. During the scrimmaging portion of the tryout they needed an extra person to make the teams even, so they asked me to jump in. I played and I guess I played alright, for a 7 year old. The coach asked me if I wanted to be on the team. I was so excited and felt incredibly cool that I would be playing on an older travel team. I rushed home and told my mom. Fancy Nancy (aka my mother) wasted no time bursting my bubble. She was convinced the coach didn't actually want me to play. She told me they were just being polite and had only needed me because there weren't enough players for even teams that day. The conversation went a little like this:
"Mom mom! They want me to be on the team! They want me to play!" -Me
"No they don't, they just needed extra people tonight." -Nanc
"No mom, they really want me to play."-Me
"Sorry Kel, I really don't think they do."-Nanc
A couple days later after calling the coach my mom realized I wasn't making it up. They really wanted me on the team. At that point I started my life long soccer career. I was in love from day one. The only slip up I've ever had was during a summer soccer program before 3rd grade where the coach made us do sprints. My chest burned and I just hated the weird feeling of breathing heavy and working hard (obviously foreign territory to me). I told Nanc I wanted to quit. She said "You are not a quitter. You have to finish what you started. You finish this program and if you feel the same afterward you can decide then." That would be the only and last time I complained about soccer and the only time I've ever had a thought related to quitting it.
Soccer has been more than just a sport for me. It's how I've made lifelong friendships, learned about teamwork, perserverance, passion, and how to channel my emotions in a positive way. When I feel lost, it's my one constant. I will be playing until I am confined to a wheelchair. Soccer, one thing I love almost more than life itself, has also given me 5 hospital stays and the ugliest knees you've ever seen. Oh, the irony. But that story is for a different day.
Notice how f'n ecstatic I am. Also notice the glasses (sans patch), the bowl cut, and the thick head band. Clearly I did not become a fashionista until later in life.
I shouldn't have been surprised at what my future would eventually hold , when at 5 years old the irony all started with a patch. Yes a patch, like a pirate. When I went for my kindergarten hearing and eye tests before starting school they figured out that I was basically blind in my left eye. Of course. The bad luck begins. Blind, but only in one eye, not two like a normal person. The diagnosis: a patch and glasses, great way to start school for the first time in your life. Luckily my mom informs me that I acted like I never knew I even had it on, climbing slides 3 times my size, running, laughing, and learning to ride a 2 wheeler all with the patch. And so began my crazy, fearless, never normal or boring life. I've come to accept it and I hope it will give you a laugh too, because it's only getting weirder.
