Victories on and off the course

Dear Readers, Today's theme centers around victory, winning and how it relates to parenthood. To add more specifics, my husband Nick won his golf club championship tournament at his home course in Vermont. He maintained his parking spot for another year, and we'll add another Club Championship trophy to the shelf. #14. I took Evangeline down to the course today to make her grand debut. At last year's tournament I was pregnant, so we were excited and proud to introduce our little lady. Especially since many of the members have become close friends and some even like family to Nick. It's been almost 25 years. He has a deep appreciation for what that course and people represent in his life and it's much more than just a social place to swing a club. People were filled with genuine and kind gestures for us and celebratory handshakes for Nick. We walked Evangeline around the clubhouse, and she saw names of previous champions (including her dad's) displayed on the wall plaques. Though she didn't yet realize it. Her favorite part of the experience was riding (and bouncing) in the cart while her dad was driving. A memory that I will never forget. There was a nice breeze while we were riding around, and I thought about the many new memories we would make there as a family. For the past 18 years it was just me coming down on Sunday afternoon and now our little girl joined the celebrations. As we were watching some other golfers finish up their rounds, I was thinking about how this championship tournament relates to my own life. I do this a lot since I've been writing and publishing blogs. While I don't have a single trophy, a dedicated parking space or my name engraved on a wall plaque for my achievements as a stay-at-home (working) mom to a thriving infant, I still feel like I've won and have something big to celebrate.