Our closet was crowded, dark and didn't look polished at all. Three days and about $500 later, it's a space I actually love walking into.

I have spent enough weekends on the sidelines of lacrosse fields to have opinions. Lacrosse tournaments usually mean a flight for us, so everything on my list has to fit in a suitcase.

Basketball tournaments are the easy ones. Just a lot of games, a lot of sneakers squeaking and whistles blowing, and bleachers that remind you that you're not as young as you used to be.

You will spend nine hours inside a convention center for a routine that lasts a minute and a half. That is not a complaint. That is just the math.

7v7 is a different animal than a full pads weekend. Less gear. More games. And in Texas, significantly more sun. So my list gets shorter. My hydration list does not.

After four kids and more weekends on sidelines than I could ever count, these are the things that come with me no matter what sport we're playing.

Five dinners my family will actually eat, one grocery list for all of them, and school lunches out of the leftovers.

A group of women meets at a nearby park most weekday mornings to build strength, fitness and friendships. The workout is only part of why I'm there.

I was convinced I would crumble when we left him at college. I worried about how our home would feel without him. I worried about his siblings. I pictured myself sobbing through move-in and all the way home.

But that isn’t what happened.