Welcome to Ohio

Eleven

Snow. Cold. I hate both. And when I got back home from California, I thought for sure we were done with snow, but of course, for my first practice with my club, it had to start snowing. Right in the middle of practice. I was already all layered up in my joggers and pullover, with a beanie on, and gloves, so I was fine as the rest of the team ran to layer up, so while they were in the locker room changing, I practiced my footwork until the coach came out.

"So it's supposed to keep snowing. I'm calling practice. Go ahead and go home." She says to me and I nod, heading into the locker room, not bothering to change out of my warm training kit, changing out of my cleats and into my shoes before taking my bag out to Clifford with me. Most of the girls didn't have their licenses, so it wasn't an issue getting out of the parking lot.

-

When I got home, the snow was thick on the ground, and Brian's truck was gone, so as I walked into the kitchen from the garage, Flash cane trotting up to me.

"Hi, Flashy." I say, scratching his head. Mom and dad were gone with Brian and Country to get a trailer, so Nana was watching Kane and Cora.

"You're home early." Nana says, looking over her shoulder at me, Cora was watching TV, so you knew she was exhausted.

"Yeah. Started snowing so coach called practice. It was supposed to snow heavier in town, so just to be safe." I say, going and ruffling Kane's hair as he watches some videos.

"Your hands are cold." He says and I grin.

"Yeah. It's cold out, buddy." I say before turning to Nana and Cora as I kick off my shoes, taking my gloves and beanie off as I walk over, hug Nana and kiss Cora's forehead.

"So how'd it go?" She asks as I sit on the couch with her, pulling a blanket over my legs.

"Well, the girls are really nice, and the coach is cool. We don't start playing until April though, so it's just training until March 1, but I'll already be training with the national team for a week before that."

After a while of just sitting and relaxing, I had taken a nap, and as I woke up, Kane was jumping around.

"I'm gonna take him outside." I say and Nana nods, so I put all my layers back on and help Kane get his layers on, and we play in the snow for a while, and he starts throwing snowballs at me, and one hits me right on the USA crest over my heart, so I clutch the small patch of snow the ball next on my jacket and look at my little brother with wide eyes after looking down at my chest. "You shot me!" I exclaim as I fall to my knees before falling face first into the snow. After a moment, I hear Kane run over, so as he stands over me, I get up, grab him and tickle him, smiling as he laughs in my arms. After that, I take him back in and look over as mom and dad come in after a while. I was sitting at the computer playing Minecraft with Kane in my lap. He wanted me to play, and he wanted to watch me play, so win win.

"Hey guys." Dad says, pointing the camera at us.

"Hey." I respond, turning to him and mom, who comes and hugs us both.

"Ugh, I missed you guys." She says and I smile as dad hugs us, going over and greeting Cora while I go back to playing.

"So how was practice?" Dad asks as we all eat dinner and I nod, chewing the food in my mouth.

"It was alright." I say after swallowing my food.

"Just alright?"

"I mean, we got snowed out, so I won't know how well it'll work out until tomorrow." I say and they all nod.

"I'm still so proud of you." Dad says and I smile. "So, what'd you do after practice?" Dad asks and I swallow my food.

"You mean after practice was cut short? Came straight home."