When a quarterback changes the play at the line of scrimmage
it’s called “Audibling.” Yes, that’s a legitimate verb-ing of the word
“audible.”
Other ways to say it: He called an audible. He made
adjustments. He changed the play.
The QB sees something he doesn’t like (or something he does
like, maybe a favorable match up or a weakness in the defense) and he changes
the play. The ability to adjust on the fly is one of those skills veteran
quarterbacks acquire after thousands of snaps, thousands of defensive reads,
thousands of hours watching tape. The best quarterbacks make the right
play-changes: they recognize something, make adjustments, and turn the play
into a big gain.
It’s their experience that justifies their audibling.
So how do I get away with it? I have just one child. I did
not raise my little siblings, have nieces or nephews on whom to practice, nor a
close friend who showed me the ropes. I’ve always been a rookie at this. What
gives me the confidence to repeatedly call audibles where Hollie is concerned?
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a change junkie. I don’t want
the same thing to happen every day. I don’t want the routine that is so ingrained
that weeks or years pass and I don’t even notice they’ve slipped by. While
Hollie has a schedule, I provide as much flexibility within that schedule as I
can.
I like to call it Mickey Mouse Parenting, working off a
checklist. As long as all of these things get done before we move forward,
we’re okay; they don’t have to be done a specific order.
Maybe it comes from experience with software implementations
which try to do as many things simultaneously as possible. Maybe it’s the
milestone approach my PhD program took where things happened concurrently. I
have a flexible approach because I know the best laid plans are only plans
until you start to execute them. Then they’re life and life sometimes has rogue
linebackers who sneak through the line and sack the quarterback. Life sometimes
jumps up for the interception and turns your running backs into tacklers.
In every play, you have to be ready to shift from offense to
defense.
It helps if you call an audible. If you adjust to the defensive schema
you see.
I have always called audibles in my relationship with
Charlie. He’s used to it. Toward the end of the day I might call and let him
know we’re doing happy hour this evening, so meet us at the bar. We used to
make spontaneous road trips, extend weekends into Monday, and buy last-minute
tickets for shows.
We once decided on a Friday night to go to the Daytona 500
on Sunday. We got in the car Saturday afternoon, met a buddy in Florence, drove
through the night, and made it to the race three hours before green flag.
Admittedly, we’re less impulsive now. But our Friday
driveway parties are part of my audible-calling nature, trivia night at the bar
is an audible I keep in my back pocket, and I very rarely turn down an
invitation to go anywhere unless it requires giving up my Sunday.
Where Hollie is concerned, audibles can mean instability.
It
can mean she comes home from school and I’m not here because I added an extra
meeting downtown. Maybe after swim team we have to go to the grocery store or
maybe we have to pick up a friend’s kid from school today. Audibles make
teachers and administrators crazy because they have hundreds of children. But I
have just one. And she can bend, flex, go-with-the-flow because I resisted that
type-A parenting advice of scheduling your baby to keep your own sanity. A
schedule for Hollie would have made me miserable.
Being able to audible means being able to adjust to current
circumstances. Adjusting doesn’t mean accepting, it just means recognizing that
your wide receiver is double-teamed which means your running back can get open.
So change the play.
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