Well, I suppose it was inevitable.

Kind of like the dreaded ‘Princess Phase.’ Oh I tried SO hard to avoid the princess thing when she was a toddler.

We all avoided giving her and exposing her to frilly, pink, sparkly princess stuff like the plague. Then one day {apparently my brain was turned off – let’s blame it on lack of sleep} I decided she could watch the beginning short movie for this new show called “Sofia the First.” It looked harmless and was supposed to be about a little girl who happened to become a princess when her mom married the King. Well it started off okay. Then. A commercial for a special Disney Channel showing of none other than the original “Cinderella” come on. It showed that classic scene where Cinderella is running down the stairs of the castle out of the ball. My daughter sat up straight, eyes wide open, and the only thing she said was “WOW!” Then that very Cinderella came to visit Sofia and that was that {very ingenious Disney}. The next four years were all about princesses.

Soccer is huge in my town. I suppose it’s huge in any town but here it seems to really have a hold. I got an email saying the sign up for fall 1st grade girls soccer was almost over. I opened my mouth {can I even blame lack of sleep now??} and my husband said he thought it was time she tried a team sport and my daughter got super excited about the idea of actually playing soccer.

So I said ‘goodbye’ to leisurely fall Saturday mornings at the farmers market and I signed her up.

Now I’m knee deep in not only having to prepare for back-to-school {clothes, notebooks, shoes, pencils, etc} but also add to that a whole set of ‘soccer stuff’ – athletic shorts, soccer shoes, socks, t-shirts, uniform shirt, ball ….and its there a certain color those shorts are supposed to be?? Of course we don’t get any information until the end of August and, well, I’d like to take advantage of the sales over the next couple weeks thank you very much. Because we have a closet full of frilly pink princess-y stuff that I’m pretty sure don’t work too well for soccer.

I wonder how she’s going to take to soccer. Is this going to be my life from now on? Quite honestly – and I suppose it’s a bit selfish – I’m already mourning those fall Saturdays for the next five years. She’s loved every sport she’s tried from tennis to golf and even a dance lesson here and there. It’s just so far I’ve managed to keep sports lessons to a summer thing. But once you get to 1st Grade, it’s all of a sudden time.

I know she’s going to have so much fun. Running around and giggling with new friends. I remind myself that’s the important part here. Not the Saturdays or all the additional stuff.

And I know how much I will enjoy watching her have fun with her friends.

….and when it’s cold and rainy…. well I suppose I’m going to have to get one of those monogrammed Tervis mugs so I have something to put my Baileys & Coffee in. Oh. Wait…. Poncho. I meant poncho….