Moore War 2009

The big football rivalry was markedly different from last year: Rachel's decided to not participate in Color Guard this year so she wasn't a part of the game. Instead, she and her buddy went on their own and Emily and her posse did their own thing. No role for meddling parents. Which was fine. All part of growing up and all that, right?

Oh, we weren't entirely left out in the cold. Emily and her crew did need someone to take them and drop them off and then, later, pick them up and bring them home. Which we did. A nice dinner at Freddy's in Moore and then on over to the festivities. Roving packs of youth dressed in their football rivalry finest on a pleasant September evening. The days are seldom better than that.

I had the pick-up-after-the-game duty and when I got the call, er, text, I headed out. A Fifth Dimension CD in the Sequoia stereo, a full moon sailing through the sky filling fields with pale blue light, the steady jabbering of five 13 year old girls in the back - well, maybe you get the picture. This time won't come again so I'd better enjoy it while I can.

And I did. After everyone was dropped off and it was only Emily and I and the Fifth Dimension celebrating the Age of Aquarius, I asked her if she'd had a good time. She did. So that was enough for me.

As for Rachel, she declared her time good as well when she breezed in moments before curfew. That'll be about all we'll be privy to in her life but details will slowly emerge as the days go by. This will be her last big high school football game; if she attends in the future, she'll be only a visitor to her glory days and not a participant. She doesn't realize this now, of course, but I hope she looks back on this as the best of times.