Carb it up

My daughter is in competitive gymnastics and sometimes it requires a bit of traveling outside of our home town. This weekend we are headed to upstate SC for a meet and I have the opportunity to visit with a dear college friend. She asked if there was anything specific that Jenna eats the night before her meet and it reminded me of a special tradition my dad started with my high school field hockey team.

My parents owned a pasta making company for a few years while we were in high school (you'll hear about that experience in a later installment) so we always had plenty of fresh pasta in our house. My dad always in his teaching/coach mode, insisted on having the entire field hockey team over before the first game of the year to load us up on some carbs for the big game. So after practice we all would gather at my house, sit around the table and devour some pasta. We would laugh and talk and eat and eat and eat. We saw it as just a time to hang out with our friends and eat some good food. But my dad knew it was an opportunity for the team to come together off the field and bond, which he knew would make us a much better team on the field. Now our hockey team didn't win a lot of games but we fought hard together and we stuck up for each other. We probably lost more games then we won but we came together as a team and always had a good time on and off the field. We were more than just teammates, we were friends and we were a family. So I want to thank my dad and my mom (she did the majority of the cooking) for providing me with not just a bowl of pasta but with the opportunity to form some friendships that have lasted a lifetime.

So a special shout out to all my Wakefield field hockey sisters: Next time your in the neighborhood, stop by and we can share a plate of pasta.