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Emily looked over at Lindsey as they headed to the beach. Lindsey looked so carefree with her sunglasses pulled down over her eyes as they held hands over the console listening to Emily’s new spotify playlist. It wasn’t very often that she could convince Lindsey to listen to country music but she really seemed to like this playlist that Sonnett had put together. Emily could get lost while looking at Lindsey sitting across from her. She still couldn’t believe that Lindsey felt the same way she did. She felt so lucky to be able to have this in her life.
As the song changed over Emily leaned up to turn the volume up so she could hear the next song better. The opening chords of the song Voices flow through the speakers and Emily started humming along. “You could say I’m a little bit crazy, you could call me insane. Walkin’ round here with all these whispers, Runnin’ round here in my brain.” As the song progressed Emily thought about the words of the song she was singing along to. Over the years she had gotten some good advice from her family and friends (and some not so good advice from Kelley sometimes). Listening to this song made her grateful for all the life lessons she had learned over the years. My dad saying, “ Work that job, but don’t work your life away” And mama telling me to drop some cash in the offering plate on Sunday. She was so thankful for her parents… Emily could feel herself starting to reach the end of her rope. She felt like she should be doing so much better than she was in her games. She was the number one draft pick and she felt like she wasn’t living up to that. That’s one reason she wanted to go play for Sydney FC in Australia. She wanted to get better for her teams, her teammates, her friends, her family, and even herself. Her parents and sister were coming to the Sydney game tonight and she wanted to make sure that she played well. She was able to meet her family for brunch that morning. She tried to keep up with the conversation but all she could think about was the game that night. After brunch was over her dad asked her to take a walk with him. “Emily, are you ok?” her dad asked. Emily looked up at her dad with wide eyes and was fully prepared to answer yes but instead she felt the hot tears start to leak out of the corners of her eyes. Her dad grabbed her up in a hug and just let her get it all out. After she stopped crying she told her dad about how she had been feeling. He listened and then he said, “Em, I can’t begin to understand the stress that comes with being a professional athlete but I will say this. Your stats do not define you as a person or your self- worth. You would honestly probably play better if you weren’t putting so much pressure on yourself. Your family and your friends love you for being you. Not because you were the first round draft pick or any other thing like that. I know how much you love this sport. You need to fall back in love with the sport and not look at it like just a job. Emily took her dad’s words to heart and she found her love of the game and the fun of the game again. She looked forward everyday to getting to play her favorite sport and spend time with her favorite people. Sometimes maybe she has too much fun (mainly when her and Kelley are together). And Granddad sayin, “You can have a few but don’t ever cross that line. Yeah I hear voices all the time.
As they continued on towards the beach Emily thought about how blessed she was to have the things she does in life and how one little thing could have prevented her from having all of this. My dad saying, “Quit that team and you’d be a quitter for the rest of your life.” And Mama telling me to say a prayer every time I lay down at night.Thinking back to all the times as a kid that she wanted to quit the soccer team when it got hard but her parents telling her to push through. That advice ended up helping Emily in other aspects of her life too. She never gave up on her feelings for Lindsey even when it got hard. Every time Lindsey would get back together with her ex Sonnett would still be there for her because she fully believed that her and Lindsey were meant to be together. She would pray every night for guidance and strength. In the end she got the girl. Watching Lindsey tap her fingers along to the song Emily wished she could have that view for the rest of her life. Imagining Lindsey sitting next to her with two kids in the backseat going on a family vacation made Emily smile so big that Lindsey noticed. “What are you smiling at?” she questioned. “I’m just super happy.” “Me too Sonny, me too,” Lindsey replied with a beaming smile. And grandma saying, “If you find the one, you better treat her right.” Yeah I hear voices all the time. “I really think she is the one,” Em thought to herself. They pulled up to the beach and Emily jumped out of the car and ran around to open the passenger door for Lindsey. “M’lady,” Sonnett held her hand out for Lindsey to take. Lindsey looked up at her with a questioning gaze. “Gotta treat my girl right, “ Sonnett smirked at Lindsey. “You always do ya big goof,” Lindsey answered as she leaned in to give Sonnett a sweet kiss on the lips. As Lindsey turned away to head to the beach Emily followed her with eyes and thought to herself that she could definitely get used to this.