My Blanket Fort

What to do?

A few weeks ago my cousin graduated from Roncalli High School. He was very involved in sports there playing football, basketball, and track. His brother graduated from Roncalli just three years ago. So for the past 7 years Roncalli High School has had a Banich boy attending school and playing sports. This also means for the past 7 years Nick and Kevin’s parents have been going to games, school events, and hosting pool parties. Now Kevin is going to Ball State in the fall and their house will be eerily empty. What will Jeannie and Joe do once Kevin heads off to school?

This is a dilemma that many parents face when their youngest leaves for college. However, it seems to me this might be a little different for Jeannie and Joe because of how they almost never missed a game or a meet, and were always attending something at Roncalli. So I began to wonder what my aunt and uncle will do with their free time and I came up with a few things.

What Joe Might Do:

1) Become very involved in Fantasy Sports. Possibly manage multiple teams in multiple sports. Did you know they have Fantasy Golf? Well Joe might know soon enough.

2) Become an ISHAA sanctioned referee. Joe will be the most intense ref ever, set a record for “toss outs” in a season, and eventually be fired for throwing penalty flags and calling fouls on every Cathedral player on the field/court. It’d be fun to watch.

3) Try to get a job with the Roncalli radio station as a sports commentator. He’d do a great job and not hold his tongue which will make for great radio. He’d be fined by the FCC during every Roncalli vs. Cathedral broadcast.

4) Become the Uncle that comes to everyone’s games. I’m sure he will go watch his nephew Zach play football at Roncalli next year, and his brothers in the following years. As more Ford family children grow up and go to Roncalli Joe will be there, just as long as he has a reason to be there and bad mouth Cathedral, he will be there.

What Jeannie Might Do:

1) Organize more frequent family vacations. With both her sons gone one, trip to Hawaii a year won’t be enough to make up for lost family time. Soon the Banich family will have spent enough time in Hawaii that they’ll be registered voters there.

2) Hang out with Grandma a lot more. She is just around the corner and not going anywhere. Jeannie’s hands will be hurting more than Grandma’s from playing solitaire with her all day.

3) Finally start using that pool they got. Jeannie will realize that you can get in the pool as well as hang out by it. Soon she’ll start doing laps and by next year she will be challenging the neighborhood kids to races and seeing who can hold their breath the longest.

4) Become the Aunt that goes to everyone’s game and supports them. I’m sure she will go watch her nephew Zach play football at Roncalli next year, and his brothers in the following years. As more Ford family children grow up and go to Roncalli Jeannie will be there right next to Joe, hiding her face as Joe bad mouths Cathedral with his booming voice from the top row of the Roncalli stands.

My fingers are crossed that Jeannie and Joe will not do anything crazy with the found free time. Hopefully they do continue to support Roncalli and the rest of the family that will attend there. And hey, who knows, maybe I’ll see them more often at the Kegger’s Nick has and I go down to IU for.