Jess Gilardi, Author at Friday Night Wives

The Best Thing I’ve Ever Done for Our Family is Learn to Say “No”

I have realized that I don't have to fill every second coach is working with things to keep them (and myself) distracted. And I don't have to fill every second he's home with fun activities to make up for all the family time lost without him. And I certainly don’t have to do all the things to ...

Journal

Dear Players, You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are

You get the best of the man who loves the game, but cares about your character more. While most of the world sees you as wins and loses and what you did right and what you messed up, he sees the man you can become. He sees your strengths, but he also takes the time to help you improve your ...

Friendship, Journal

When You Don’t Have the Picture Perfect Tribe

These are the things that define a true tribe. Just because we haven’t had the chance to take that perfect picture of us sitting together in the stands in awhile, doesn’t make us any less of a tribe.

Friendship, Journal

I Resisted the Coach’s Wife Community for Years … This is Why I’m All In Now

For those of you who didn’t take this approach, you understand just how important other coaches' wives are, not only to your survival, but also to your flourishing. For those of you who maybe are doing what I did, I hope you realize you’re making the sacrifices whether you admit it or not. ...

Faith, Family, Journal, Marriage

Home is Wherever My Coach Is

What this verse made clear to me was that the true definition of home isn’t a physical place. It’s not the house that I painstakingly decorated and kept clean(ish). It’s not the school whose colors I put on week after week and cheer for until I lose my voice. It’s not the town where I ...

Family, Journal

Dear Kids, You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are

Not every kid has a team full of older siblings who care about what happened in school today or who will listen to the plot line of your most recent favorite Disney episode. You get to have them over for dinners or make them snack bags for the road. You get to make them signs, cheer them on, ...

Journal

To the Wife Taking Care of Every One Else: Stop Dimming Your Light

Slowly, one by one, I started to weigh things that were important to me against how much of a disruption it would cause the schedule. More often than not, and mostly because it was something important to me and not the kids or coach, I decided “it wasn’t worth it.”

Journal

I’m a Superstitious Wife, But I Don’t Believe In Luck

If I am being honest, it is more about craving control than luck. Nothing about the coaching lifestyle allows the wife to be in control.

Family, Journal

A Letter From God to a Coach’s Wife

Let’s remember your earliest seasons as a wife. Remember how you tried to force your solutions when problems arose. Remember the frustration you felt when your perfectly plotted plans came undone. Remember how exhausted you were from trying to control everything. I whispered to you then, ...

Family, Journal, Marriage

What “The Greatest Showman” Taught Me About This Life

We follow them anywhere, as many times need be, to a lifestyle most people don’t understand. And while our faith isn’t blind, it can grow weary if we lose sight of the bigger picture.

Family, Journal, Marriage

5 Things I Wish I’d Known My First Year As a Coach’s Wife

You are making sacrifices, your Coach is making sacrifices, your kids are making sacrifices, your extended families are making sacrifices. BUT only two people made the conscious decision to live this life: you and your Coach.

Jess Gilardi

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