laying it all out

Just in case someone is reading this that doesn't know my story.

I went to Sandy Creek high school. I played volleyball for Coach Paul Collins. I also played for several Tsunami coaches and Del Hughes of Atlanta Boom. Volleyball used to be my life! I wanted to go to college on a full scholarship, to any D1 college that would take me, and yes, I was good enough, but not focused enough. I played for Tsunami all the way through my 16's season, and I loved it!!!! Club volleyball was the only kind of volleyball I wanted to play.

Then my 17's season I didn't make the 1 team at Tsunami, they only kept 1 setter (I was a setter by the way) which was clearly a mistake made apparent by the way that team's season went. After that I never looked at volleyball the same, it was more of a job, not something I loved to do anymore. The Parents involved started turning on coaches who were once their favorite, and players who were once their friends, all in hopes for a scholarship to the best school for their very own daughter. After that, Mallie (my best friend) and I went to another club, Atlanta Boom. There I was placed on an 18's team, when I was only 17. Our team wasn't so good, but we did make the best of it. While on that team, I met Hector! At one of my volleyball tournaments, he was like a knight in shining armor!!!!! AMAZING.

My next seasons went well. Until my senior high school season, it was supposed to be the best year of my life. We had a great team, I had great friends, and I was dating the man of my dreams, although he lived in a different state, we worked it out! So we had summer workouts, and we taught summer camps to middle schoolers, and we did summer scrimmages. Then when tryouts were over. we were all stretching it out, there were not very many people there, just enough to fill up JV and Varsity, and since I had been on varsity since I was a freshmen, it was no sweat. This team we had been building since 7th grade, was about to dominate finally our senior year. So coach Chandler (assistant lady coach, has no idea how to play volleyball correctly) calls me over, and she says "Coach Collins needs to talk to you", I go over there, and he says "we have 3 setters here, and after evaluationg everyone today, we won't be keeping you on the team" it hit me like a ton of bricks...... you WHAT???????? and that was the end of my life as I knew it. No more Sandy Creek, no more championship, no more confidence.

I couldn't even show my face at Sandy Creek anymore, I was so embarrassed. the GHSA rules stated that I could not go to another school in Georgia and play volleyball unless I actually moved houses, and all schools already had their roster filled with D1 bound setters. So I moved. To North Carolina. Into an apartment, with Hector. I did research online of what high school near his military base had the best team. Jack Britt won in all my researching. So that's where I went. The volleyball there wasn't near as competitive, and I lost interest. It was horrifying going to a new school my senior year, leaving the friends I had since I was in Kindergarten. Hector was really the only thing that kept me sane, I just don't make friends that quickly, or easily. And everyone was already in their little clicks. I just really didn't fit in. But I told everyone back home that it was fun, and that everything was going good, but it wasn't. I cried pretty much everyday, I didn't eat lunch with anyone for the first week, and that's along time in the high school world. And when I finally did eat lunch with someone, it was a girl on my volleyball team, and we sat on the stairs because there were no other open spots to sit. It was nothing like Sandy Creek where me and my friends were so close we never had to worry about where to sit, we could sit anywhere! I only went to 1 football game my senior year.. it was pretty horrible, what's the point in a high school football game if you don't know anyone on the team, and you barely know the people in the stands. So I opted out of pretty much every event that went on. But life goes on.

After that season, Hector and I decided we wanted to get married!!! So we did, 3 weeks after I turned 18! And I didn't tell anyone back home..... I did online school and drove back and forth from North Carolina with Hector, to Georgia where my school was. Then Atlanta Boom season started and i was in Georgia a lot for practice. But mine and Hectors trip to New York for new years......I wound up PREGGO. Quit volleyball all together, became a full time Army wife... at the drop of a dime. What a change!

We got another apartment with an extra bedroom for a nursery, and the pregnancy began. 9 months......... that's a long time. And I spent it in an apartment, that has blue carpet. I spent the beginning without many friends to hang out with. I spent it without my family, which was the hardest part of it all. I had a horrible, unorganized doctor, and I gained a lot of weight. Pregnancy was just not for me. It was so hot outside I didn't even want to get out of the air conditioning.

But the pregnancy passed, and we ended up with a beautiful baby girl, who is currently trying to talk to me! We have a house ready for when we move back to Georgia and it is amazing. So I guess with all that I was saying above, I got a great husband and a great marriage. I also have a perfect little girl to raise in my perfect little house. Never thought the teenager who married an Army guy and got pregnant her senior year would make it this far? I'm just trying to beat the odds.