Hal's big week

I want to get this down in writing while it is still fresh.

WHAT. A. WEEK. for. HALLIE.

First off, she turned 15. 

How can that be possible when just yesterday she was this size?  Of course she was a newborn in this picture, and started out giant, but that's besides the point.  (actually she is about 9 months old here) (also, her head is not as big as mine, it's the angle of the camera)  (or what we tell people).

 

So, the kid turned 15.  She had a fun birthday party with hotdogs, water balloons, and friends.  All in all, a great day.

 Her sister's really love her, in spite of the fact that she has totally outgrown them.  She may be much taller than them, but she will forever be their "Baby". 

Then, when she had been officially 15 for one day, she was pulled up to Varsity, due to another girl getting hurt.   She was so stoked, she may or may not have slept in her varsity jersey.

I find it very ironic that her number happens to be 15.  We didn't even plan that. 

So, fast forward to the next day.  Game against Stillwater.  Something happens to JV, and they just TANK.  Haven't been beaten but one time all year and just stink up the floor.  

Then I'm wondering if Hallie will get to suit up and play, because of her team's super bad showing.  Never fear, they need the tall 9th grader. 

So, she suits up, gets introduced in the Varsity game, and goes and sits on the bench.  For. one. whole. match. 

Varsity gets smeared by Stillwater.  25-16.  One match down.

Coach Kane decides that working just her regular rotation isn't going to work.  She puts Hallie in.

If I could describe what Hallie looked like in that exact moment, it would be sheer, utter, panic. Everything she had learned about volleyball was gone.   

She looked like a deer in headlights, maybe even a blind grandma.  Just clueless and hilarious.

My brother put it the best way I can think.   He said, over his shoulder to me,  "When she quits crapping her pants, she'll do good.  Right now, all she is doing is crapping her pants."

Succinct, grody, and correct.  Playing with varsity, after playing volleyball for only one year.  Pretty surreal for a newbie.  Crapping her pants. 

For one whole match, she ran in a circle  (Playing a different position, she has always been the middle and now, for varsity, she is playing right side) and just tried to stay out of the way.  They lost 25-19.

But the difference in this game, compared to her JV games of the past, all the girls on the team encouraged her, and patted her back, and yelled at her to get in her spot (in a nice way, not the normal mean JV way), and coming out at Match 3, when my brother said, "Well, I have to go, this game is over"...everything on her team hit solid gold.

Hallie overcame her nerves, and just did what she does.  And beside the senior middle, McKayla Benner (who is Hallie's ABSOLUTE HERO) they were twin towers of doom.  NOTHING got by them.  Hallie got the perfect set and had a KILL shot for her very first point in Varsity. 

It. was. Spectacular. 

All the bench went crazy.  The freshmen girls watching went crazy.  JV just sat there sucking their thumbs, playing with their hair.  (ok, that might have been mean, but hey, what goes around comes around).

Coach Kane smiled her first smile of the very intense night.  And her JV coach Rene Crockett, who has worked HOURS with Hallie teaching her to hit and getting her fundamentals lined out, couldn't stop laughing and smiling.   It. was. awesome.

And they came back and won the third match 25-23.  All the sudden, Varsity was having fun.  All because of a Goofy, goofy 9th grader. 

Fourth set, Bubba isn't moving, "I have to watch this".  Norman North wins, 25-23.  NOTHING is getting past the twin towers and Senior Kate Lefler has turned on the Serving arm and is killing every serve.   The Stillwater coach (whom we love and know from Club) is getting antsy and has stopped smiling. 

Fifth and final set, with our butts totally numb, and our hearts racing, we move into the final 15 points of the game.  Even my mom (who is usually OVER it by end of match 2, and is into her 10th match of the evening!), is whistling and stomping her foot.  Bubba hasn't moved. 

Everything is magic,  Hallie continues to stay calm, and do her thang, and Norman North wins 15-11. and takes the game for the most exciting, ridiculous, "I may take up drinking" win I have ever witnessed, and hope to never have to witness again in my life. 

It. Was. Magic. 

Bubba said it best on the way to our cars when it was all over,  "I wouldn't have missed this for the world". 

Yep.  One of the moments that stays with you a lifetime.  God is Good.