Always Us

open practice

Opening the back door of the SUV, Olivia was faced with her nearly three year old twins screaming out their favorite Rams cheers while her oldest son tried to drown them out with his own chanting.

"Thank you, baby girl," Olivia sighed as Sienna swung open the door opposite her and began to unbuckled the louder member of dynamic James duo.

"We're not even inside yet," Sienna shook her head as she wrangled her sister out of the car seat.

"Daddy day, daddy day," Gianna taunted as she clung onto Sienna's neck.

Unamused, Sienna slammed the door shut.

Rolling her eyes, Olivia pulled Caleb, who had gone quiet without his counterpart, up onto her hip. "C'mon Jackson."

Stuffing his iPad under his arm, the middle child climbed over the seats before hopping out onto the ground.

"Everyone stay together," the mother of four advised as they joined the other team families making their way from the reserved parking lot to the fields.

It was the last week of training camp, and practices were open to the public. Considering that she took any opportunity she could to support Spencer, it didn't take much begging for her to promise the kids that they would come see what their dad had been up to for the past couple weeks.

"Is daddy gonna play in a game?" Jackson looked up at her as they neared the entrance.

"No, baby. It's just a practice. They're gonna be running plays against themselves," she smiled as she ran her free hand through her son's curls.

"Oh yeah," the six year old nodded, remembering the same response he had gotten that morning at breakfast.

"Okay, put these on," Olivia instructed, distributing the lanyards that would grant them access to the VIP seating area.

With the older kids capable of handling themselves, Olivia crouched to help the toddlers. First, she assisted the less patient of the two while the other clung onto the hem of her #11 jersey. Both of the twins wore mini replicas; Caleb's pulled over his hoodie and Gianna's stuffed into her yellow shorts.

After clearing security and securing everyone their own bucket of popcorn, Olivia herded her children up to the bleachers where they'd watch the practice.

"Daddy?" Caleb nudged his older sister in the seat next to him.

"He's on the field, bubba," Sienna replied distractedly. She was more focused on keeping Gianna from pulling on her braids.

Turning towards the field, Caleb tilted his head at the players dressed in matching jerseys. He looked down at the number on his own shirt and then back up to the field then back down. Ten was the highest number he and his twin had learned so far, and this one didn't match any of the ones he knew came before it.

He looked over at his family. Gianna and Sienna were going back and forth, Jackson was watching his iPad, and his mom was talking to another lady. Sliding off his seat unnoticed, Caleb looked down the row and decided to walk the opposite direction they had come. When he reached the end of the row, he stared at the metal steps, contemplating how he could get down them alone. The railing was a little too high for him to reach.

After a couple more seconds of looking around, he noticed the bars that ran perpendicular to the railing, each one approximately six inches apart. Walking across the step, he grabbed onto the first bar then placed each foot on the step below, one at a time, just like he was taught. Slowly but surely, he made his way down, always having at least one hand on the vertical bars.

When he made it to the bottom, he realized he didn't know which way the field was. The crowds were moving quickly around him and when he looked up, all he could see were the bottoms of purses and overflowing food trays.