That time of the year

Every Fall I make my annual trek back to my hometown for homecoming. It's a chance to see my parents, my older sister and nephew, my old college softball mates, and a chance to get my hair cut. Hey.. I've been going to the same place/same person for the last 15 years, at least. I just can't up and drop her just because I now live out east. Besides, it's a reason for me to come home and catch up on the latest gossip at the hair salon and an chance for her to brag that one of her clients comes all the way from DC to see her. I will admit that it makes me feel old walking in there when the other clients this particular weekend will be sorority girls with their small yippy dogs (yes, even in the MON (middle of nowhere) Michigan) wearing their valour tracksuits with 'juicy' and 'hot' written on the backside talking about the upcoming social that night, the parade, and the social after the homecoming football game. I'm so disconnected as I sit in my chair wearing whatever jeans I packed, whatever tshirt I put on that morning, and whatever fleece I wore home with remnants of cat and dog hair. It's the closest I'll ever get to being cool.

There are some sacrifices to coming home, though. This weekend is the D2 MARFU Rugby Playoffs in Norfolk, VA, which we are participating in for the second year in a row. It sucks to miss out on it after all the practices, sprints, fat lips, bruised noses, bruised arms/legs/knees/elbows, constantly split open knee, sore rotator cuffs, bum ankle and thumb, sore necks, and overall achiness. You wake up the day after a match and realize you're feeling the effects of a try-saving tackle or even just a practice versus our hard hitting D1 side. What sucks is that if we lose, we won't go to Elite 8's in Orlando, FL the weekend of November 9th. If that happens, I'll have all those missed tackles and "I could've hit her lower" thoughts in my mind.

But then again, there's my 2.5 yr old nephew I haven't seen since May 31st; there's my parents and (pregnant again) sister and BIL I haven't seen since then; and there are my softball friends, some I haven't seen since January, February, or December, and some I haven't seen since last homecoming. It's the people and the stories and the ties that keep me coming back to Michigan, back home, every October. It sucks that such an important match falls on the same weekend, but there won't be anything more important than my family and friends. Rugby is fun and I like being part of the team, but my ties back home are deeper and tighter and will draw me home every time this time of year.