I'm a very lazy person.

Lazy and selfish.

I love my kids and I love watching them do stuff, but there's limit, you know?  I mean, I've never understood those mom's who actually stay and watch their kids practice sports.  It's practice!  You're not supposed to watch it, you're just supposed to show up for games and be impressed by how much the kids have improved.  Really.  Don't you have anything else to do?

Josie has been involved in tennis, track and karate this summer.  There's been practices and meets and classes almost every day of the week. 

Tennis was every morning for a month and then this week they had a tournament.  A tournement for kids who just learned how to play the game.  This is like kindergarten graduation.  The tournament was at a different park about a mile away and it started at eight o'clock in the morning.

Did no one tell the tennis people that summer was for sleeping in?

Guess not.  The dam tournament ran every day this week.  Eight ayem all week.  Ptthbb.

So, we get up early and eat and dress and everything by 7:50, just like it was a school day....wait, Josie doesn't start school until 9:40 so we were up an hour earlier than we ever are for school.  We haul ourselves over to the park and all the kids are there and all their parents are there and it's like this huge deal.  Folks were setting up tents.

"There's Meg!"  Josie took off towards the courts.

"Hi, Meg."  I was looking around. "Where's your Mom?"

"I don't know. " Meg shrugged.  "I think she's picking me up later."

"How long does this thing go?"  I asked, figuring I'd come back later, too.  I was watching a couple with two lawn chairs and a picnic basket and wondering if they had any hot coffee.

"I don't know.  Til you lose." Meg shrugged again.

"Yeah, if you lose, you're out."  Josie told me.

"It's single elimination?"  I was surprised.  There was nothing about that on the schedule.  It just had "Tournament" printed on everyday this week. 

Hope dawned in my breast.  Hope that my own child would fail and fail quickly.  I went and found one of the instructors to verify this cruel rumor and it was true!  Freedom and sleeping late were just one defeat away!

I checked the schedule.  Neither Josie nor Meg were in the first round.  I figured I could go home, take a shower and have another cup of coffee and be back in time to watch and see how much they'd improved after a month of lessons. 

Forty five minutes later, I returned to the courts much cleaner, wider awake and fuller of coffee.  Meg was sitting under a tree.

"I'm done!" she chirped happily.  (Meg and I are simpatico on sooo many things) "I didn't win a single game!  I got crushed, six to nothing!"

"That's great!" I congratulated her "Let's go watch Josie!"

 Josie won two sets but lost the game.  She made some nice hits but was very sad that she lost.  She was trying not to cry as we walked toward the car. 

"You played really well, sweetie," I said. 

"You were a lot better than I was," Meg sang "I didn't win a single one."

"Sounds to me like you two are perfectly suited to play each other."  I said.

"I guess." Josie sniffed.  Meg commiserated with Josie and I tried to sound sympathetic but I couldn't help humming as I skipped to the car.

In my attempt not to qualify as Worst Mom of the Summer, three days later I sat through a three and half hour city finals track meet and watched Josie win a bronze in the 4x100 relay.  Then track was over as well as tennis and true summer vacation can finally start.

I'd sleep til noon tomorrow, but it's Saturday and that means karate at dawn.