As we continue our semi-regular series "A Day in the Life of a Coach's Wife" today we'll learn what a typical day is like for one coach's wife in Southwest Georgia.
Insert Apple iPhone default alarm sound here, it is 5:45 am and I am most likely hitting the snooze button telling myself my hair can go one more day with dry shampoo.
I finally get up a few minutes before 6 am and jump in the shower to get the day started.
While I do that I hear my husband's alarms go off; one at 6 am, another one at 6:05 am and the last one at 6:10 am.
Does he get up? Nope … he waits for me to say “Hey Honey it’s 6:30 are you getting up?” I am usually finishing my morning routine of washing the face, brushing my teeth, and putting in a new contact lens.
He finally jumps in the shower, and I head off to make our coffee and lunch for the day. It was a good day, I didn't need to pack him lunch. His school is feeding their teachers today. I get the Keurig going and head off to our son’s room to wake him for school (daycare).
Waking my three-nager is not fun these days, but I manage to get him up by saying if you want to ride to school with Daddy you better get up. He pops up and I begin the morning routine with him: potty, brushing teeth, getting dressed, and grabbing a quick breakfast. Lucky for me, his school feeds him breakfast, but I don’t like to send him with Daddy without a little something. Today, he selects muffins which are his favorite.
Hubby grabs his coffee and bolts out the door with Gunner to drop him off at school and head to work. Hubby has a different job than most varsity football coaches. He teaches special education middle school. I am so proud of him.
Once they leave I get a few moments (20 to be exact) to myself to finish my morning routine and get out the door to head to work. I work at the high school and teach Economics to seniors. Today, I am covering a lesson out of our fundamentals unit … scarcity and opportunity cost. I bet you can hear the Zzzz’s coming from my classroom now, but I have a good group this year.
After work, it is my responsibility to pick up Gunner from school. I head across town to pick him up, I usually get there between 4:00-4:15 pm. Once I pick him up I usually stop at our house or the quickie store to grab a snack and a drink for him before we head to his afternoon activities or football practice.
Gunner participates in swimming lessons and t-ball in the spring. So we are extremely busy keeping up with his activities.
Our athletic program serves a team meal after every practice. So, I help cook or serve as much as I can. Today, (lucky for mommy) Gunner does not have evening activities. I will head back to the school so Gunner can see his daddy at practice and help with the team meal.
It will be a late night for Coach. He will have practice film to evaluate and things to get ready for tomorrow’s practice. I don’t anticipate seeing him until well past 10 pm. So, I am thankful our head coach allows us to visit as much as possible.
Gunner gets to enjoy a team meal with the players and daddy as well. When the team is finished, the other women volunteers and I clean up and head home. This is always hard because Gunner says, “I want Daddy” or “Daddy take me home”, but he can’t tonight.
I wrestle with an upset, crying 3 year old, but I manage to get him out the door and in the car. He cries some of the way home; I do my best to console him. But honestly, I know it's hard for him to understand. When we get home, he tells me he is sad. I always tell him it's okay to be sad, but we have to find joy in knowing that we saw daddy today and he will be home soon.
Immediately out of the car, he begins his nighttime routine; bath, brushing teeth, book, bed. Once he is off to bed, I try to hit some of the household chores that I have been avoiding the last few days. There are dishes piled up in the sink and there is laundry that desperately needs to be folded and put away.
Our bedroom looks like a train wreck, which is driving me crazy. I managed to check a few household chores off the list before I decide most can wait another day and I want to hit the hay. As I turn on the tv in our bedroom, I can hear the garage door going up. Coach is home!