Dear Coach,
I despise our annual *Coach Is Back Home* knockdown drag out.
It's always right on time.
After 2-4 days of a blissful reunion, you come home sooner than you have for the past six months. Like a wrecking ball, you swing in craving structure, organization, and an itinerary that the football season has given you.
Hi there. Welcome to the tight shipwreck I've been running. It's hard for me to adjust to another person in the house, requiring answers, guidance, and direction from me. My poor brain glitches at trying to provide any resemblance of the structure you and your colleagues have systematically been operating under for the majority of the year.
I love your brain that is able to focus on things to completion. What's that like, I wonder? What a gift that you love organization.
So, without further ado: A Post Season Itinerary. A game plan, if you will: (Please refer to this document when you need home-front directions.)
1. Your gear is taking over our closet and our bedroom chair. Let's start with a clothing purge. It'll feel great.
2. There's a shelf in our garage that has tons of things on it from the previous owner. I don't think we necessarily need them all. I can't wait to watch you work; bonus points if you wear a hat.
3. I'm sure there's a filter to be changed or something to be dusted. Have at it, my bored and beloved friend!
4. I know you'll ask for a toothbrush to clean your sneakers. After years of you asking and years of me saying, "Dude! I don't have a toothbrush for your shoes"… We indeed DO now have The Toothbrush. I decided to save it and give it a designated spot in your closet. Are you proud of me? I feel proud of me.
5. If you're feeling really froggy and seem to have run out of ways to be productive, there are always dishes to be cleaned and put away or floors to be vacuumed. Remember that one Christmas, you vacuumed your sister's floor because you couldn't handle sitting still? Gosh, I love and support that idea.
6. I so appreciate when you chose to patiently hang up curtains or wall art when I know you'd much rather like to pluck your eyeballs out. Thanks for that. I feel the love.
7. Let's put away our phones and catch up. I've missed you.
P.S.- I AM sorry I cave to the 'welcome home squabble.' I'm hopeful this plan helps. I'm looking forward to the shared meals and bedtimes, riding to church in the same car, family game nights and dance-offs in the kitchen, and all the other positives of the off-season.
I really do love you and our two adult household. You're really good at loving us. No matter how trying the re-entry period is or how polar opposites our brains are- we're better together.