In like a lion, out like a...lion (Kyle)

When I was young my Mom used to say about March, "In like a lion, out like a lamb." I've never thought much about it, assumed it was just one of those southern idioms, and thought it was an obvious meteorological observation: March begins cold and rainy and ends warm and sunny.

Upon doing a little research it seems that, while that is true, it also refers to the relative positions of the constellations Leo (the Lion) and Aires (the Ram or Lamb).

Now that March 2010 is complete, I have to wonder if maybe the stars are a bit off.

Going in to this month Sara and I knew it was going to be hard. I'm in the heart of the HS Ultimate season. Three of the four weekends in March the Paideia Girls competed in tournaments. The only weekend off, a handful of my college friends put together a team to attend a club tournament here in Atlanta. Sara was on the Surgical ICU (SICU) and stayed at the hospital every fourth night. March 18th was match day. And it was the last month of the first trimester for Champ.

On February 28th Sara and I went to Trader Joe's and stocked up on freezable meals. For those of you that know us, you know that is not our typical MO. We like to plan our meals each Sunday, grocery shop together and try to cook most nights.

That night, as we turned the lights off I told Sara, "see you in April." It couldn't have been much closer to the truth. With Sara waking up at 4:30 or earlier half the days, me waking up at 5:30 and not coming home until 7 or 8pm, Sara at the hospital every fourth night, me gone three of four weekends and a houseful of people the one weekend when I was in town we hardly saw each other. Between coaching and EyeWonder I put in regular 90+ hour weeks. By the last week of the month I was hardly functional in my downtime.

The only day I took off was Match Day. With such differing schedules we were forced to process the somewhat surprising news that we'd be moving to Seattle separately. This led to some miscommunication, tense moments and ultimately one of the biggest arguments of our six year relationship. While we are both excited about Seattle and confident that wherever we end up we'll thrive, we communicated about the match and our next steps differently.

I also struggled with coaching at times. The march-loaded scheduled was exhausting for me and the team. Too much time together, spread too thin, a few of my players and I got into it some.

But I maintain that if it's not hard and challenging, it's probably not worth doing. Every team I've cared about has struggled at some point in the season. And dealing with challenges and tensions means you have to understand each others' flaws, thinking and communication. Once you understand that you can fill in those gaps and you become even more successful and able to take on harder challenges. And my relationship with Sara is no different. Sometimes as the tectonic plates of our lives shift it's necessary for an earthquake to occur to reset the equilibrium and increase the stability of the foundation.

And so it goes. March is over. April is here. And, while I wouldn't want to do it again, the lion that was March has hopefully helped prepare us in some small way for the little lamb that we are expecting. And while I really have no idea what it means to have a baby, I know that we are up for the challenge.