Nice beginning, sucky ending

K's parents came out for a short visit. We took them to a few new places - Portos in Burbank, which they LOVED!!! There are so many fantastic pastries and cakes and sandwiches - all for reasonable prices. And also La Cabanita in Montrose, which has that fabulous carrot soup that doesn't taste like carrots. And excellent mole sauce. They liked that too.

We had a very nice visit up until about 5 minutes before they left. That's when his mom mentioned that his sister who lives in the same town as them, has her house back up for sale. This only affects us in that if they wanted to, they can arrange it so I get a referral fee - a small percentage of the sale. It's kindof hard to understand how or why someone would do this, but K went through a lot of trouble to explain it to his family. Plus his other sister did it for us, it's just that his OTHER sister has decided she doesn't want to. For whatever reason, she just doesn't want to.

Anyway, it's not that much money, but every little bit would help right now. And it's kindof hard to understand why a family member wouldn't help you out. Especially if it's no money out of their own pockets. Especially since she keeps telling us how much she loves us.

We thought it was a mistake the first time, that she would fix if she put her house on the market again. So anyway, we were speechless. I kept looking at K, he kept looking at me, then we'd turn and stare at his mother. At this point, she started babbling to fill the space, altho she didn't really look at us after that.

Then they left and we were pissed. I just feel like "whatever", and I can laugh it off. K can't laugh it off so easily, partly because he knows how hard I work and how seldom I get paid. Partly because we could use the money - it's Christmastime! It's his family! But I'm just trying to have compassion for her, that she can't make a better decision than that. Plus it doesn't look like their house is going to sell any time in the near future, for a variety of reasons.

So we had a nice visit with K's parents, it just ended on a bitter note.

While they were here, the Girl's soccer team played a tough game that sealed the deal for their team to win first in their League's bracket. That was exciting for everyone. Then last Saturday they had to play one more game to finish the season, and luckily they won that one too. We took them out for a team meal, and one parent brought a cake to celebrate.

Too bad we didn't have a little longer to celebrate. For some reason, the league had a tournament that started the next day, Sunday (yesterday). So we had to get up early for an early game against a tough team that gave us a lot of trouble. Before we knew it, they scored twice! In the second half, the coach put the Girl up front, and she just dribbled around everyone and scored! She almost did it twice more, but almost did not win the game. But it was exciting because the Girl looked so good. She is spectacular.

Then we had a second game at 2pm against a team that we suspected would not be too tough. WRONG! They tied the first team we played 0-0. Our team fought and fought, but after awhile they seemed to lose steam. After halftime they scored a third goal against our 0. The Girl got so frustrated that she asked to come out of the game and was basically crying. She told me, "They're not trying!" about her team. I argued that they were doing their best, and she said, "No, their not!." And they certainly weren't playing their best, so I didn't know what to say.

On the way home I said everything I could think of to cheer her up, but she was too upset. We went from the highest of highs to a new low point. It seemed like a sad and anticlimatic way to end a weekend that started out so well.

I wish I could protect her, but losing is part of sports. It's part of the drama.

You can't win them all.