I Can’t Even Shut Off The Mom Brain While Watching Steelers Football.
The Steelers were playing the Colts.
On the very first play of the game, Steeler Jacoby Jones caught the kickoff, returned the ball for about eight yards, then fumbled the ball – and the Colts grabbed it. The Colts took possession at the Steelers’ eight-yard line.
As a Steeler fan, this upset me slightly. I assumed the Colts would run that ball right in for a touchdown, and the Steelers would be losing by seven points in less than 30 seconds. Then they would spend the rest of the game trying to make up for the deficit.
But as a parent, all I could think about was Dylan.
This is what Dylan does to himself every quarter, I thought. He digs himself a huge hole by not finishing his work and not studying, and jumps right into that hole. Then he spends the rest of the quarter trying to get himself out.
At the beginning of the second quarter, for example, he got a ‘C’ on a unit test in history – and has been furiously digging his way back to an overall ‘B.’ He turned in several things late in both English and Biology, leading to a meeting at the school and low grades to start him off, so that he’s digging – again – furiously, trying to bring up his grade to something above average by the end of the quarter.
Then I thought, I can’t even shut off The Mom Brain while watching Steelers football. What is wrong with me?
Luckily, I tuned in to the game in time to see the rest.
After the initial fumble, the Colts got four yards on a rush, then threw an incomplete pass. And on their third play, the Steelers defense intercepted the ball in the end zone – and the team got the ball back at about the place where they’d had it after the first play of the game.
It took the Steelers 51 seconds to dig themselves out of that original hole. Three plays later, they intercepted the football, getting it back to its rightful owners, no harm done.
It usually doesn’t happen quite so fast, or easily, for Dylan.
The Steelers also stayed in it for the long haul – and won the game, 45-10.
“The long haul.”
That’s where my hope lies.