matching tracksuits

We're nearing the end. The Girl's volleyball has been a constant in our lives for years now. The Girl and volleyball -- we can't imagine one without the other. Two years of middle school volleyball followed by four years of high school volleyball with club volleyball each of those years: it's all coming to an end in just a couple of weeks.

So often, we don't see the end coming. We don't know when we're in the midst of some last or another. The last time we see this person. The last time we visit this place. The last time we watch someone do something they love. This last, though, is approaching with unrelenting certainty.

I revel in nostalgia. I wallow in it at times. These last few days, I've been looking for pictures to send to our volleyball coach for the upcoming senior night, and I've found pictures throughout L's volleyball career, one from the very beginning:

She was the Boy's age in this picture, perhaps a little younger. She was just learning, and an overhand serve was the stuff of dreams. An overhand jump serve (as if you'd do an underhand jump serve) was something she couldn't even imagine. Now she does the easily (when the coach leaves her in rotate on the back line to serve, which is admittedly rare these days).

And in a few more games, it will all be over. She's not going to be playing volleyball college (at last not for the college team -- she'll likely get involved in intermural sports). So we enjoy each game in a way we probably never have.

It was a tough loss: the girls were up 15-7 in the first set only to lose 22-25. It's tough to lose after having such a lead, and it's tough to go back out for a second set. But they did. And the struggles continued, and the frustrated girls took another one on the chin: 21-25.

Then came the third set. They jumped out to a quick lead just like the first set, but this time, instead of losing it, they increased it, taking the third set 25-14. "See? That's what we're capable of," they seemed to be saying.

Then came the fourth set, which the lost 16-25. It's these ups and downs, these moments of brilliance followed by moments of -- what? -- that are so frustrating for this year's team. They know what they're capable of: they're just not managing to maintain it consistently.

Yet through it all, there's our L, always the upbeat cheerleader of the team, always celebrating even the smallest victory, always cheering up the team when they're down, always believing in her team.