Tuesday Thoughts: Lessons Learning A New Career in Middle Age

Tuesday Thoughts, Wisdom, Life Lessons for Women, Women Entrepreneurs, Women in Sports

There I was centerfield in a muddy patch with two teenage girls with my hands clamping their lacrosse sticks together. Their sticks needed to be the same height, straight, with the ball in between their nets equally. With my whistle in my mouth and my arm raised, I yelled “Ready!” and instead of backing away three steps away from the draw, I blew my whistle and the lacrosse sticks and ball came jutting up into my face.

I saw looks of slight terror on the girl’s faces and other players on the field, as well as the coaches on the sideline. I said, “My mistake, I’m new. Sorry, let’s try this again,” as my lip bled and I wondered if I chipped my front teeth. Thankfully my whistle prevented that. As the second draw went off smoothly, this old dog learned her lesson. Don’t blow your whistle until you are out of the way.

No one asked if I was okay, probably to minimize my embarrassment. As the game ended and I headed to my car, I stopped at the slushie tent to buy and suck on the flavored ice on my way home. “How dumb, Tracy,” I heard myself say as my lips touched the flavored ice. Maybe you are too old to learn and referee a new sport.

As I drove home, my youngest son, an avid lacrosse player, called me to ask how the games went. I told him what happened. He said, “Mom, don’t give up. I’m proud of you for doing this!” I thought back to the times I said the same thing to him during his lacrosse years from youth to college. “Okay, honey. I won’t.” Trying anything new, especially a new career as a 59-year-old woman, who retired from her company after two decades, will take patience. My brain might not work quite as fast as it did giving sage advice to women in business, because I’m learning new rules, lessons, and experiences. If we can tell our children, not to give up, and to keep trying after an incident, then we can give ourselves some grace too.

Everyone is learning something new every day if they are living a good life. Perfection doesn’t happen in the blink of a minute or in my case at the sound of a whistle. It takes time to hone new skills no matter what age we are. When they say, “You can’t teach an old dog, new tricks,” I’m hoping the adage is wrong because I plan on getting back on the field and trying refereeing girl’s lacrosse again, this time wiser than I was at the last game.