The Power of the Singlet

The Power of the Singlet!
By Kathi Berreyesa
Don’t Underestimate the power of the Singlet, and I don’t say that lightly. I know some people don’t like the singlets because they feel insecure in them, but my son has never had an issue with that. He loves them, and he has quite a lot of them in his collection. This brings me to this story I am about to tell you. It was my first time heading to Pocatello, Idaho for Western Regionals pulling the trailer by myself—just me and Andrew on the road. I have to admit that I was stressing about it quite a lot, but I knew it was what I had to do, so let the adventure begin.
 
Rich got the trailer mechanically ready, taught me how to pull it, and showed me and Andrew how to set it up. We got everything packed, and so we were off. Scared, yes I was! I was not confident. Andrew could care-a-less because he was just excited that he got to go. He was excited to get there and get his new gear, but he had his stack of current singlets ready to go, as he never knows until a match, which singlet he will feel like wearing. He’s a bit quirky that way, as probably most wrestlers are.
 
So we packed everything in, and we were off! I pulled out of the driveway, with my heart pounding and white-knuckling the steering wheel. I drove through the neighborhood very slowly, and then had to pull out to the main road–like at speed limit, which amazingly I did! Down the road we went to the Freeway entrance—this put me in total fear, now not just the speed limit of the main road–but the highway speed limit, and there were cones at the entrance as they were doing road construction, so now I was being tested by having to stay in the cones. It wasn’t fun. I was not having fun, nor was Andrew at that point, as he had to hear my stress. Well, needless to say, I made it through that nightmare, and actually it gave me a little confidence to drive on the freeway at that point, so here we go.
 
I was on the freeway, feeling much better and getting into the groove of the highway. I was just about out of town to the open and free Nevada highway, when Andrew said, “Mom, I forgot my singlets!” OMG! Err! I was not happy and told him that I would not go back through that trauma that I just endured! I told him that he could just wear his new singlets, but he wouldn’t go for it. We proceeded with our heated conversion when I said, “Fine, there is a truck stop right there. I will pull in, and YOU can call your Dad and see if he will bring them to us, because I am not driving back! So he did, and Rich did. We waited and Rich got there with the whole lot of singlets! Of course, I continued to tell Andrew how lucky he was that his Dad was so willing. Rich then sent us on our way again, and we were off!
 
I actually did quite well the rest of the way, but I was definitely so happy to pull into the Pocatello KOA and see friends who could help me get set up. In return, I helped get the new gear separated and distributed to all the wrestlers. Andrew and I then got our dinner going, and he tried on his new singlets. He LOVED them! In fact, he LOVED them SO much that he decided that he would wear them the first day. In fact, he LOVED them SO much that when he finished the first day he said, “Mom, you have to wash these because I want to wear them again tomorrow!” I said, “NO, the laundromat is closed; wear one of your many other singlets that your Dad drove ALL the Way to bring you.” He said, “No, I need these ones.” I told him that I would have to wash them by hand, and I didn’t know if they would dry in time, and he said, “that’s fine!” So I filled the trailer bathtub up, and I did my loyal wrestling mom duties of Hand-Washing singlets and Hanging them to Dry, and hoping they were dry in time.
 
Well of course they were dry, and he wore them and was happy; which of course made me happy–even though I was annoyed for succumbing to him, but he wrestled well, so I got over it. The tournament that day lasted very long, and by the time we got back to the trailer for the night, Guess What! Yep, we were in the same boat again, and I was again Washing Those Two Singlets by Hand, even though he had about TWENTY other singlets right there! Yep, like I said, “Don’t underestimate the power of a Singlet, especially the NEW Singlets and NEW Gear for the year. Also, Do Not underestimate the power of a wrestler to convince a wrestling Mom, or Dad, to do whatever it is their wrestler needs!