Fostering Blog Diary
The whole weekend was a bit of a whirlwind. Saturday was a Paige and James (name changed) day. Paige was dropped at mine about 11 and her dad came in for a cuppa and to wish James luck for the following day. He’s a nice guy and thinks a lot of James.
Paige was going to stay over and I had got the spare room all spick and span for her. Paige’s dad left and I made some brunch and we sat up to the table to eat. James admitted to being very nervous about the following day and I probably would too. James showed me some emails he had received from his Social Worker, my Link Worker and from his club coach. James and Paige went out in the afternoon and I did a few chores and then sat and watched some sport on the TV. The lovebirds got back about 5 and I asked what they wanted for tea. James said he didn’t want anything too heavy so I did omelette and chips which seemed to go down well. We made our plans for Sunday.
James had to be at the training ground for 11 and it was about a 30 minute drive so I said we would leave at 10 so we had plenty of time. That would mean getting up at 8 for us all to get ready and have something to eat. James said he would be too nervous but I said it was healthier to eat that not eat. James got his gear ready and left his bag by the front door. We watched a film that night and James went to bed about 11. Paige went shortly afterwards and I cleared up and went to bed about midnight.
I woke up about 7 and could hear somebody in the kitchen, it was James. He had woken up and been unable to go back to sleep. We sat in the kitchen and chatted and Paige joined us soon after. James showered and got ready, followed by Paige and yours truly. We left about 9:45 and set off for the wonders of South London. We arrived at the ground at about 1020 and had to stop at security and give our names. We were ticked off and given a pass to wear. James’ team mate and his parents arrived soon after and the boys went off to the changing rooms.
We walked around the grounds and watched some of the first team players train. James and the boys came out and went onto one of the far pitches. We decided to sit in the pavilion and have a cuppa rather than adding pressure on James by watching him. We glanced occasionally out the window and saw that they were playing a practice match as some of the boys had bibs on.
The session finally finished about 1pm and the boys came into the area where we sat and joined us for a drink. James looked exhausted but was happy. He had some pictures taken with the 1st team players and felt very proud of himself sat in the clubs training gear. James went off for a meeting and to return his training gear and returned about 30 minutes later. He had a big bag with him. The bag had a tracksuit, 2 training shirts, 2 pairs of shorts and 2 pairs of socks. He has been invited back!
