Saying goodbye to my soccer team

In a few hours we will head out to the very last soccer game that I will coach with my 18 year olds.

That's me. Doing my coaching thing.

I'm having a hard time with this. I've watched these kids grow up. I've coached them for five years, but even before that I hung around at practices, scrimmaged with them when they needed extra players, cheered them on from the sidelines.

Most of these kids have been part of my life for a very long time. And it's almost over.

This has been my first real moment of "this is it" with the teenager. We've shared soccer since he was on his first team at age five. Thirteen years of memories, and now it's about to be done.

I'm going to be a basket case.

But these are teenage boys and they don't want to see that. I have to figure out a way to hold it together while these goofballs that I love come together on the field for the final time.

I have to figure out a way to laugh and cheer and smile and suck it up. I have to  say goodbye to 17 silly, dopey, funny, amazing kids that have, for the most part, found a place in my "mom" heart.

Yep. I'm a basket case. No way around it. Goodbye's just suck, I have no profound words to get me through it.

*sob*

Update 10:30pm: It's done. It's over.

We had a great game (we won, 3-1), it was a lot of fun. It was a little physical (we drew our second yellow card of the season. Awesome.), the teenager made some AMAZING saves in goal. Some of the guys played in their pajamas, because we made a deal last season.

I made them cookies. They brought me flowers. We had a group hug.

And now we are done.

*sniff*