Game Girl

It's the MOST wonderful time of the year! Well, for football fans it is. And for me, it DEFINITELY is. This is it...training camp has officially begun! All of the waiting, the watching, the wondering and the hoping will finally be put to rest. Well, maybe not the hoping, but the waiting and the wondering can now be replaced with real, solid football. In the flesh. For keeps. Helmet to helmet. Shoulder pad to shoulder pad. It's for real, folks. It counts. Well, it sort of counts...but let's not get picky.

Wow, I'm so excited I can barely think straight. I'm overwhelmed with what the beginning of training camp really means for this team. New beginnings. Fresh starts. It all begins anew...today!

And guess what? I'm back in the saddle now, too. Listening to my sports talk radio stations for any and all updates on camp practices. Staying up late to watch the local cable coverage from the "Redskins Broadcast Network", such as it is. Reading each and every blog post entry on the Washington Post website. I can talk football again and not be stared at like I'm a lunatic because it's only March and no one cares. It's OK now -- the "season" has officially begun. I can come back out of hibernation and embrace my Redskins for real.

I'm back, baby...I'm back!

It won't be long now. Training camp is only DAYS away, and I'm getting excited. Thrilled, actually! And not just because football season is starting up again, although I'm obviously nearly beside myself about that part of it. It's also that when I think about why I really love football, I realize that it's something I enjoy doing that doesn't have much, if anything, to do with my "regular" life...the life in which I cook, clean, play chauffeur, and take care of children for much of each and every day.

I like having a passion that is totally removed from the daily grind of my life as a mom. I guess that's why most people love sports, or any hobby, really -- it's an escape from their everyday reality. And that's why I love football...watching it, following it, reading about it, even writing about it. It's different. It's unique. And it's totally mine. Not much else in my life these days is just about (or for) me, but my passion for football and the Redskins is completely and totally my own. I don't have to share it, unless I want to (and living in a house with a husband who grew up in Baltimore, I can assure you he's not real interested in sharing this part of my life with me!) I'm on-duty as a mom and wife 24-hours a day, and for the most part, my life revolves around the 3 other people who live in my house. But this is something that I don't have to share with them, or anyone. It's just for me.

Which I guess many of you cynics out there might argue is a GOOD thing, considering how I often behave when the Skins lose a game (which has been often over the past few years, I realize). But even still, I like having a hobby and a passion that allows me time to disengage from my everyday life and just let loose. Be free. Be myself. If only for a little while.

Let's hope this year, the Skins give me something to really escape to -- a winning season!