Painting Lines is Actually... Fun!

Coach Painting up the lines

The other day my husband said, “I have to go up to the football field and paint some lines next week.” I was like, “WHAT?!? Don’t they pay someone to do that?” He informed me that, yes, they pay someone to paint to official lines and yard markers on the football field, but that he paints a grid on the football practice field every year to work with his boys on drills. Ok, I thought, it’s kind of coming back to me from last year. He does these lines every year, but this year he said, “Do you and the girls want to come up and help me?” Really? I think I’d rather spend 6 hours on a bus with 40 smelly football players after a tough game… with the windows up. But I reluctantly agreed. How bad could it be? He said it would only take an hour, tops (and when he says an hour, it usually takes at least two), and the girls and I weren’t doing anything anyway. 

So we went down there and he got out all his stuff: line painting gadget, tape measure, string, and a square to make sure the corners are straight (he’s a perfectionist about certain things). Then we started painting the lines. We made a 30x30 grid with boxes every 5 feet using the string to make sure it was straight and the tape measure to make sure it was the right length. 

Coach and Daughter, "A" helping w/ the lines

Like I said, I was pretty jaded. I had prepared myself for a good hour of boredom. But as we started painting, we actually had (gasp!) fun! I liked painting the lines! And the icing on the cake was that it actually ended up turning into some quality time spent together. The girls ran around and rode their bikes while we painted the grid and we got to spend an hour (yes, it actually only took one hour!) doing something together. Albeit, not exactly what I would imagine as a romantic date, but hey, I take what I can get sometimes! 

The moral of the story: Try doing something with your husband that involves his sport and you might actually have fun doing it. In the very least, you’ll get to spend some time with your husband that would otherwise be spent apart. And you’ll be killing two birds with one stone. It’s a win-win. 

Coach and Daughter, "L" helping out

P.S. I thought I'd just mention - although I've clearly geared this blog towards the WIVES of coaches, if you are the husband of a coach, this is for you too. And ANYONE else that feels like reading it. :)