thirty days with a grateful heart - day fifteen

day fifteen - never quit

Frankie loves to play volleyball.  It makes her happy, which in turn, makes me happier than you can even imagine.  To watch as my littles take on something and then give it their all, one hundred and ten percent - well, I think words just wouldn't do my feelings justice. 

On Saturday, her new team had the opportunity to play in a tournament that has come to be known as the 'friendship tournament'.  A nice and relaxed pre-season mixer that allows the girls to get some playing time together and gives them an chance to see how they stack up against some of the other local teams.

Frankie's team had a great day, they played a lot of volleyball and had a lot of fun together, which after the high school season she had, imho, is way more important right now than anything else.  I believe this is going to be a good growing year for all of the girls - they have a solid team, a set of really great coaches, and a good, work hard attitude - and for that I am truly thankful. 

But even after playing five games on Saturday, and after a week of non-stop team practice and three days at crossfit and all the studying for finals she put in, Frankie still wanted to keep her commitment to the private libero lesson we'd scheduled with Michelle for Sunday. 

Michelle knew that Frankie had played the whole day previously, but she still worked her out hard.  She's tough, she refuses to allow the girls to slack and the funny thing is, they don't want to.  They work hard whenever they are scheduled with her.  Frankie was tired when she was done two hours later, but she was ecstatic about how the lesson went and felt like she's really getting the hang of playing defense.

I'd like to think she gets it from me, that desire to be better, to keep improving, to do what she needs to and to never quit.  But, to be honest, I'm not really sure.  I think maybe she is simply the sum of all the really best parts of both Big J and me, minus any of the bad parts to drag her down.   Today, I'm really grateful for that.  Really, really, really grateful.