End of a Season

We celebrated the end of the cross country season yesterday with ice cream, cookies, and laughter. A lot of laughter.

One of the best moments of the party occurred when Maia and Carmen handed over titles. Early in their xc career, Coach Cowdrey nicknamed them Thing 1 and Thing 2. We never quite nailed down who was which, though it seems that the girls did. It also turned out to mean a lot to them and they decided to pass down the titles.

Ultimately, it turned out that Carmen was Thing 1 and Maia Thing 2. At the party, Maia went first (after rattling a list of nicknames off for everyone including coaches - Coach Cowdrey got "Coach That Only Pretends to be Mean; I got "Magic Pony.") and handed over Thing 2 to Natalie. Carmen read a short piece about what it means to be a Thing and relinquished her Thing 1-ness to Rilynn.

Natalie and Rilynn were both happy to be the new Things, version 2.0 as it were.

Maia asked if we could make this a team tradition. So did Carmen. I told them both the same thing. We don't have to.

They already did.

Back row: Natalie (Thing 2, v2.0), Sam, AJ, Asher, Wyatt, Rilynn (Thing 1, v2.0), Head Coach Steve Cowdrey, Coach Paul.

Middle row: Kyler, Mary Ann, Taylor, Joey, Ryker.

In front: Maia, the original Thing 2 (Left) and Carmen, the original Thing 1 (right.)

Picture courtesy of Suzy Cowdrey.