Melissa and I stayed at a Hyatt Hotel at the same time as a whole lot of youth travel soccer teams.
There was a Starbucks in the lobby, and since I go into migraine withdrawal if I consume less than 2 and a half cups of coffee, my addicted self was down there first thing to snag my overpriced venti stimulant.
And so were the parental units of these footballers. ⚽️
And I learned: one adult did not represent one coffee order.
Nope.
Yoga pants with the tight ponytail playing tug-of-war with her brow furrow was gonna need
a frap
an iced something with 2 pumps of fairy syrup
a vanilla caramel hazelnut macchiato flat no foam soy oat almond skim situation.
And a large cup of ice.
What? No more gruyere egg bites? Really?
“That’s what ‘sorry, we’re out’ means,” went my brain. “Can we move along so cargo shorts with the backwards Bass Fishing cap can order the 7 complicated beverages that just chimed in on his moblie device?”
If you sense judgment in my tone, you’re right. I’m working on it.
I just couldn’t imagine a world of weekend-after-weekend travel to midsize cities to talk game outcomes in hotel elevators while shelling out dollars for fees, equipment, plane tickets, and hotel rooms. And Frappuccinos.
Sounds like one of the middle rings of the Inferno.
No shade to soccer, seriously. There’s probably a lot of it in my future.
But the commitment to this kind of travel, this kind of money, and your kids freebasing sugar-feine so they can wear their bodies out at back-to-back matches? I mean, when does anybody have time to play Saturday Nintendo Duck Hunt these days?
I’ve been thinking a lot more about death. Just the fact that it’s going to happen. I’m also absorbing the truth that I can’t make more time.
And I still waste it.
To transcend distraction for me requires Ulysses-tied-to-the-mast level intervention.
I’m working on it.
The question is — What leaves you satisfied? And what creates an interaction you’re proud you left behind?
(And yes, that can absolutely happen in travel soccer.)
And what leaves you empty, depleted, and wondering where your time went? Let’s have less of that, please.