—
The city of Cleveland is once again left with the hope of next year after losing another chance at a championship. Being a Cavaliers and LeBron James fan, it was difficult to watch game six of the finals.
|
I started comparing our expectations of LeBron to my stay at home wife (Jen).
|
Looking back on the series, we asked LeBron to do the impossible. The Cavs were undermanned, injury reddened and exhausted. Asking LeBron to carry a team of career backups was like asking my two-year-old son to read War & Peace. It just wasn’t going to happen.
As I was reflecting on what we wanted LeBron to do, I started comparing our expectations of LeBron to my stay at home wife (Jen). What just happened in this series with James, is comparable to the life my wife lives every day. The similarities are crazy.
♦◊♦
It may not be fair to compare basketball to parenting, but here are six ways my wife can relate to LeBron James’ Finals performance.
1. She Does Everything She Possibly Can
There is no doubt LeBron left everything on the court during the series with the Warriors. He scored, rebounded, assisted, and was the best player on the court.
Although my wife doesn’t play basketball (I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her shoot a basket), she gives it her all every day.
She cleans the house, entertains three kids of distinctly different ages (2,4, & 6), pays bills, cooks, finds time for me, chauffeurs, schedules, and a myriad of other duties. Every day she shows up and does everything she possibly can for our family.
2. She Gets the Most of What She Has
It’s no secret the players the Cavs had on the court in the finals wouldn’t have been there without James. He made every player better in finals. Most of the players on the roster were borderline good role players… not starters.
This is a similar crew my wife has to work with at home. Not one kid makes their meals, she ensures clothes are washed, tantrums happen about every hour, and she can’t leave our youngest in a room by himself in fear he will climb to the highest point and just jump.
Obviously it is easier to take care of older children who have mastered personal hygiene, but she gets the most of out this crew. She makes it work spectacularly well.
3. Everyone Still Expects More
After LeBron had taken the Cavs to game six, there were still those who said he could have done more. They wanted more efficiency, more points, more minutes, more, more, more. It just simply wasn’t humanly possible.
Unfortunately, I think my wife experiences this every day. We regularly forget everything she has done during the day and expect more. It’s not fair.
4. Dealing with Injuries
Luckily LBJ didn’t get injured during this season. However, he had to deal with multiple injuries to his teammates and readjust.
If you have children then you know injuries are an everyday occurrence. There are bloody knees, bruises, and puking that can end up on your lap without notice. She has even had to deal with surgeries in each of the last three years!
When you have a family, you can’t let injuries slow everyone down (even if you are the one sick or injured). When injuries happen, she does what LeBron does and doesn’t miss a beat.
5. Thankless
There was no question LeBron was the best player on the court during the series, but he didn’t get the MVP nor did his team win. It is a difficult feeling when you give it your all, but your efforts are ignored.
My wife must feel like this every day when we put the children down for bed. She gets them three meals a day, still wipes two of their butts, dresses them, makes sure they have fun, and ensures they are healthy. She does all of this without many thanks throughout the day. Most of the time all of her efforts are ignored too.
6. Exhaustion
Following game six (even after game 3) it was obvious LeBron was exhausted both physically and mentally. It took everything out of him to play at a superhuman level for six games.
♦◊♦
|
I can honestly say I’m not surprised with LeBron’s performance.
|
Staying at home all day with three children can feel like you have played six basketball games in one day. My wife loves our kids more than anything, but everything she does in a day is mentally and physically exhausting. I’m pretty sure there are many days when she has exceeded the exhaustion levels LBJ felt.
Now that series is over, I can honestly say I’m not surprised with LeBron’s performance. I agree with his statement, “I’m the best player in the world”.
I can also tell you that I’m not surprised with everything my wife does because I feel she is the best wife/mom in the world.
—
Flickr/ sean dreilinger