Soccer Tournament from HELL!

The first thing I want to say is that the tournament staff and the tournament itself was one of the best run I have ever seen - particularly because of the circumstances.

12 noon - Friday, April 4 - tornadoes hit Jackson, Mississippi. We are due to leave Auburn, Alabama at 3 p.m. to Jackson, a five hour drive, for a soccer tournament. I am going by myself with three 11 year olds. I think, GREAT - it'll be cancelled. Such a great mom, right?

2 p.m. - I leave my last meeting for the day at work. Check the phones and email boxes and no word from tournament staff. Our team caravan (two other automobiles) decides to leave at 4 p.m. because the storm is headed our way and we will have to drive straight through it. It's moving east and slightly north and we hope to miss it.

4 p.m. - we decide to wait 30 more minutes - phone the tournament staff - they say with great enthusiasm - TOURNAMENT'S ON. There are some areas without power, but tomorrow is going to be a gorgeous day - 75 degrees and sunny. Drive safely.

4:30 p.m. - we start on our way.

At about 5 p.m. we get to Montgomery, Alabama and I get a call from home - "Montgomery is under a tornado warning - what is the weather like?" UGH~ No rain, but to our right - just north of us the clouds look very ominous with little "fingers" pointing to the ground that look like they can turn into a tornado at any minute. We push on.

I'll spare all the details, but we did drive through some heavy rain, but no tornadoes.

We get to Demopolis and hear that our hotel in Jackson doesn't have power - to take our time. We stay at Hardees in Demopolis for two hours. . .ugh.

I get an AU Alert phone call. I work for Auburn University and because of all the campus shootings across the country, we have automatic notification of anything life threatening. Auburn is under a tornado warning - take cover immediately. I find my 15 year old son in Auburn. He is spending the night with a friend. Thankfully, they are in a basement. My husband is in our basement at home. Everyone is safe. No tornado hits Auburn.

We push on.

We get to our hotel at almost mid-night. Still no power. We get one flash light per room and four AA batteries. Joy. They tell us not to drive anywhere that night because there are power lines down everywhere. . . .the photograph above is the street behind our hotel. I'm not making this up.

I never slept all night. My car is in a pitch black parking lot with no security, there is no air movement in the room and I'm with stinky boys.

6 a.m. the next morning. Still no power. Get downstairs to the lobby and there is COFFEE! YES! Go back up, get the boys dressed for a 8:30 a.m. game. My door key doesn't work - UGH. At least the boys wake up and let me in.

7:15 a.m. in the lobby to caravan to the game - Games have been delayed FOUR HOURS!

What do you do with 11 year olds in a hotel and city with no power for FOUR HOURS - and it's pouring down rain? I put them in my car - we plug in several electronic things - and play electronic games and cards in the car! Why not in the lobby? Because there are 100 other U-12 soccer boys running around.

What happened to the nice sunny weather? Nobody could ever tell us.

FINALLY, it's game time. The directions to the field are wrong - our coach's fault. He gave us google maps and NOT the official game maps. I show up late - get yelled at by the same coach who gave me the wrong directions. I'm ready to pack it up and go home. Thankfully, another dad takes up for me - and I settle.

The fields are muddy, it's 40 degrees and the boys are covered from head to toe with mud - AND we lose to a team from New Orleans 6-0. UGH. Miserable.

We get back to the hotel and my new key doesn't work - it's pitch black and the door won't open. UGH. Luckily, this time a maid is in the dark hallway to let me in.

I get on the phone and find a new hotel in Pearl, MS. 25 miles away. We ALL go.

We get there check in - we barely have enough time to get to our next game. No showers - nothing.

We lose our second game 7-0 to a team from Baton Rouge.

Back at new hotel - MY KEY DOESN'T WORK! what? The lady at the desk tells me that Blackberry telephones wipe hotel keys clean! Something good to know.

We get amazing hot showers and the hotel has a washing machine. . .we're all set.

We go eat together - all 17 of us. I can't wait. Only we have to wait - 1 hr. At Ruby Tuesdays in Pearl, MS? Yep. Everyone is there from Jackson.

I go to the bar - and order a vodka martini, no vermouth with three olives, please. She laughs at me! Ma'am, Pearl is dry - we only sell beer! At least they have Corona! and limes.

I have a wonderful salad, grilled salmon with crab sauce, asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes and CORONA BEER! ugh! Should have ordered sweet tea.

Sunday was nice. We played a team from Hoover, AL - which is hilarious - it's a two hour drive to Hoover. We are more evenly matched, but Hoover pulls it out at the end.

We lose all of our games.

I tell the boys. . . .go to the bathroom . .. we are headed home, we are NOT PASSING GO, and we are not collecting $200. We're not stopping for ANYTHING.

We drive through for food and keep on going.

We arrived home at 4:30 p.m. yesterday, record time. I'm so exhausted I'm a walking vegetable.

The only funny thing. . . . .as we were running late to that first game . . . . a mild mannered little boy says to me . . ."It's OK Mrs. Denney, my mom acts like that, too, when she's upset."