Left, Left, Left Right Left....

So...it's that time of year. Drill Teams are lined up on football fields across the state, poms in hand. Madi started Drill this year with the Texan Darlings. Libby is on the Texan Stars, a smaller, younger group of cheerleaders for the same team. I am now, officially, my mother. Running like a taxi cab without the benefit of a roof light or tips.

It's only been a couple of weeks, but the flashbacks are coming hard and heavy for me. The Darlings field is MY old field. The very same grass, the very same stands. Of course, I was a Cowgirl...(I've been called a traitor for signing my girls up for the Darlings-ha ha!) and though the colors are different (We are now Red, White and Blue as opposed to La Porte Orange and White) the joy is the same. The routines are similar. The marching...well it just never changes.
'Left, left, left, right, left.'

I'm so proud of Madi. She is ME on the field. She is sharp, dedicated and doesn't miss a beat or a move. She doesn't complain, and she doesn't goof off. She's dancing on the same field I danced on over 23 years ago; it's hard not to get a little teary watching her.

Libby is my sister, made over. I'd swear she was hers, if I didn't recall actually having her. She is a cheerleader from head to toe. Five years old and she gets out there and belts those chants, smiles like a piranha, and has a bit of the 'I'm the bomb' attitude that goes so well with pom poms and high ponytails. She's a mess, but a darn cute one!

Stevie spends his time complaining about having to go to 'cheer' and for the past few weeks he has managed to coerce a mother or two in the neighborhood to let him stay and play until 8. I hate to break the news to him; that's going to come to a full stop next week when school starts back up. Poor boy. Next year, if he seems like he wants to, he'll play football on the Texans. Grace will join the little pom cheer squad with Libby, and all four of my babies will be on the same team. If I have to be running all the time, at least it would be nice to run on the same field. ;)

We had a big scare this week at Drill Team. Madi was out on the field, and I noticed her start to mess up, her arms started dropping, her posture became limp. From the bleachers, she looked like a lazy dancer. When I looked back up, a coach was walking her off the field, arm around her. Madi didn't look like Madi. Her face was as white as a piece of paper, her lips were absolutely bone-white. I hardly recognized her. It took ten seconds to know for sure that something was really wrong.

I shot off the bleachers, trying to get to her in the Darling stands. She was out of it. Her eyes were rolling in her head like marbles. Madi looked up at me, said, "Momma? Momma help me!' and her eyes fully rolled back- nothing but white showing.

They called 911 of course. She came back around, after the Team Mom started dumping water on her head from a nearby bottle. Suddenly the field was full of sirens and ambulances and EMT's. Madi was still out of it, but conscious and I'm pinching everything on her body, trying to will her skin to 'pink' up. She's just white, from head to toe. The EMT's gave her Oxygen, and water, elevated her legs, etc. She came around, but was still is not 'right'. What she had was Heat Exhaustion. It took until 10:30 that night before she quite vomiting and started to get some color back to her skin.

There is no feeling in the world like the one that washes over you when your child says, 'Momma help me' and you watch them lose consciousness in front of you. It was just for a few seconds, but long enough to terrify. She's okay now. But she drinks water all day long now, knowing practice is in the evenings and a water break 40 minutes into it will not be enough.

Madi has scared me so many times in the past....when she fell through an upside down, 10 gallon fish aquarium and had to go to the ER and get 70 stitches. Or when she fell off her bike and broke her arm.

As this young man (our sound guy I think) was carrying her off the field (like a princess) to the ooh's and ahhh's of the 40 something drill team members looking on, Madi says to me,

"Hey Mom, you can just add this to my list of accidents."
and I'm thinking....'Hey Madi, you can just add this to my list of heart attacks.'