When I was five, my mom tricked me into playing soccer by telling me my best friend Zoë was going to play, and then her mom, Lela, told Zoë I was going to play. We were the only two girls on our team in those days. Apparently I would stand on the field, shut my eyes, and turn my face to the side as the soccer mob swarmed me and kept on going. Good thing that never came up when I was trying out for varsity.
When I met James, he was into baseball. Which turned into softball. Which everyone knows is just a league for drinking beer. Many years later, after a few seasons with the intensity of the baseball dads, James switched his allegiance to the one, true football.
Then in 2018, he’d heard about the Manchester City All or Nothing series on Netflix. We developed a family crush on Kevin De Bruyne and have been loyal fans ever since. Premier League games, the FA Cup, the Carabao cup, and the Champions League have brought us so much joy through regular ol’ Wednesdays, weekends, and the occasional hospital stay.
James always took special care to get the boys FIFA World Cup books and the associated player stickers. This year he bought a big box of stickers and would surprise Nate with a handful of packs here and there. Nate studies these guys like he’s preparing for a PhD. He knows their home countries, what languages they speak, which teams they play for, the positions they play, and their FIFA ratings. After we gave most of the sticker dupes to our cousins in Hawaii, James told Nate about the Panini website where he could pick out the exact 50 players he wanted for $20. He spent one evening choosing all 50 and then double checking his work on the computer.
Nate then spent every day asking if his Panini stickers had been delivered. He got both Uncle B and Uncle Geoff to check the mailbox with him several times. Fortunately, we found the tracking number and it said they were shipping from Italy. Unfortunately, it said it could take 30-40 days— a lifetime when you’re eleven. A few days ago we checked again and they’d finally made it to New York.
This morning as we’re driving out the road for a lunch of finger foods at Novo and a stroll around downtown, Nate petitions for a stop at the mailbox. As we’re pulling up, we boost our Panini prayers with a shout out to our best Dad. We love you James.
And he delivered. It felt like a miracle. Just in time for Christmas.
James was the biggest fan at these massive father daughter tournaments where due to Jaimie’s accumulation of skills from Harbor High, we won all but one contest over the years, as I recall. The one loss was due to a miracle by the other team normally associated with “the hand of god”. Three of the four grandsons are all good soccer players ……. but ALL STARS Nate , is out in front with his mom; his own soccer skills cleverly disguised as “pigpen “.