On The Field Again

Yesterday I played my third soccer game in years (I won't say how many).  A year after having my daughter I have finally found it acceptable for me to leave her for a few hours with her father/my husband while I attempt to find the skills that I once had.  Let me tell you, the second I walk out that door I start thinking about soccer and I try to find some rock song on the radio to "pump me up" for the game.  I'm not sure "pump me up" would be the right saying or "wake me up" would be more fitting.  Still after a year I find myself exhausted pretty much all hours of the day.  As I enter the complex where I am about to play I see field after field after field most of them filled with adults such as myself (although some not nearly as old as I have discovered) trying to run up and down the field for 45 minutes a half without going into cardiac arrest.  Most of the people I have seen are in good shape, some younger some older.  The rest of us, who just happened to join the team on a whim when one of their girlfriends suggested it, are thinking that if they play every weekend and chase a one year old all week that maybe, just maybe, they will be in shape by the end of the season.  So I sit down on the sidelines and put on my shin guards and socks and cleats, checking my bag to make sure I have that handy bottle of icy hot for after the game as the agony sets in the second i get to my car.  I run out onto the field, already winded (just kidding, not really) and kick the ball around with a teammate feeling like hey, I can do this.  As the game starts I get out onto the field and make my first sprint towards the ball, pulling something, twisting something else and really wondering what I'm doing?????  I'm a forty year old mother of a 1 year old child, if I get hurt then what???  So the game progresses, I touch the ball a few times, I take a shot at goal which if anyone saw it they would have thought I was passing it to my teammates on the sidelines (haha) and we win, thankfully, now I can sit down and evaluate myself.  I feel ok, a bit sore, yes already, a bit more out of shape but I'm happy I am here and happy I decided it was ok for me to leave my daughter in good hands and take this time for myself.  Now I have six days to recover, ice, heat, icy hot, etc. and then do it all over again.  I can't help it I love the sport, I always have I always will.  Must be that competitive nature in me, but for now I'm in a hurry to get home to my love, my little girl.

Exploring The Internet

I am hoping to learn a lot from this class, I am pretty good at navigating my way around computers at this point in my life.  There really isn't much I can't figure out if it's something I am not knowledgeable of as far as computers are concerned but I am always up for learning something new.  I recently got a mac computer and this is a bit challenging for me as I have never used a mac.  I am still at the point where I'm saying where's the trash and how do I get these documents into it?  I feel like I am figuring it out as I go but as a long time Windows user it's a lot different for me.  I am hopeful that I am doing what is required and a bit more, its taking a bit for me to get back into the swing of having tasks to complete for a class as I haven't been in the classroom in a long time!  I look forward to signing in every day and seeing others comments and different points of view on various topics.  My goal is to finally receive a degree from a Massachusetts college as this is my home and I miss it terribly and I'm happy that I can finally work towards this goal.

Introduction

Good Morning - 

My name is Erin Novak I am currently taking online classes at UMass Lowell to complete my bachelors degree that I started years ago and only made it half way.  I am a liberal arts major and currently reside northeast of San Antonio, Texas.  I am a Massachusetts native and was transplanted to Texas about 2.5 years ago and am still learning the lay of the land.  I am a stay at home mom to my 1 year old daughter and a wife.  I recently began playing soccer on the weekends after taking some years off while I had a baby and I couldn't be happier being back on the field.  I also love to run for fun and to stay fit although I cannot say that I have had any time to do that lately.  I have run a few 5k's in the past few years my first one being 5 months after I had my daughter and it wasn't easy but I had to do it.  I am also a lover of animals.  When my husband and I first moved to Texas we took in (started feeding) a small ferrel cat that was skinny and afraid, a few months later we had six kittens!  We ended up keeping momma, her first born (a male) and her baby (a female).  We also recently rescued two dogs from the humane society who were scheduled to be put down.  One is a black lab mix, male, 2 years old named Beaumont (Bobo for short) and the other a female, a yellow lab mix, we think is around 5 years old named Daisy.  It's obvious to me now that I cannot be trusted around any type of pound where there are animals in need of a good home!!  I am very much looking forward to this class as it allows me to break free of my day to day routine if only for an hour at a time while my daughter is napping.