As captain for Racing Louisville FC, Arin Wright dons an armband every game, but the one she wore on May 9 may be one of the most cherished mementos of her career.

Just two days before Mother’s Day, Wright walked on to the field with her five year old son, Grady, and the custom armband he designed just for this moment. Over the light purple and pink of the Racing Louisville armband, Grady drew two stick figures and a simple message: “Love you.”

When Racing’s equipment manager approached Wright with a mission to have Grady draw something, she knew there was something up her sleeve.

“When I saw it, it made me super emotional,” Wright said. “I have all my jerseys from the 11 years I've played, but that arm band is probably going to be my most treasured piece.”

Grady is something of a social butterfly in the Racing locker room, surprising his mom with the inside jokes he shares with her squad. Wright’s teammates rightfully melted at his art, but quickly followed up with a burning question: Why did she look so angry in her son’s drawing?

“I do give that stare sometimes,” she said, laughing. “When he’s not listening in the locker room with everyone, I do kind of give that mean mug. Has he somehow associated the mean mug with me rather than a smile? I hope not!”

If there’s any question about that, the answer can be found in a tender moment from that same game.

Grady walked out onto the field with his mom for the first time, hand in hand, and then lined up for the anthem. Wright shut her eyes, listening, with Grady standing just in front of her. At one point, he leaned against Wright’s leg, looking up smiling at his mom.

“I feel his head pull up, and I look down,” Wright said. “I was like, ‘Arin, do not cry.’ It was the best Mother's Day gift I could have asked for.”

The emotional impact of the game was only sweetened by Racing’s first home win of the season. It was a good start to what turned out to be an ideal Mother’s Day weekend for Wright. She and her husband, Evan, spent the day golfing, playing pickleball, and going on a bike ride, capping it off with a local delicacy – a Skyline chilli cheese dog.

“My husband said, ‘You better tell people that you wanted that, and I didn’t plan it,’” she said. “I’m pretty easy to please. That was my perfect day.”

Before Grady was born, Mother’s Day didn’t have the same kind of charm and lightness. It was just another reminder of what Wright lost. Her mother, Letita Gilliland, passed away in 2012 after fighting cancer for two years.

Wright was just 19.

“She lit up every room. She’s very well missed by everyone that she touched,” Wright said.

Wright’s husband also lost his mom to cancer when he was a teenager. So when Grady was born, something in Wright healed. The loss and grief are still there and always will be, but Mother’s Day took on a different meaning.

“It almost filled a space that I was missing,” Wright said. “We don’t have any grandmas, but Grady says, ‘My grandmas are angels.’ He thinks it’s so cool to tell everyone that.”

As a Kentucky native, being traded to Louisville last year – on her mother’s birthday, no less – was a beautiful full circle moment for Wright. She was returning home, where her soccer journey first began, to play at the highest level.

Her mom and dad both worked hard to make sure she could perform at her best. Her parents drove her to every practice, game, and camp. Letita would regularly work 12 hour days at her hair salon, even as she underwent chemo, using that money to pay for Wright’s soccer costs.

Though Letita never got to see her daughter play soccer professionally, nevermind so close to home, Wright can feel her watching.

“I think it would make my mom cry to see me playing and back at home with my son. That’s an emotional thing for me, and I don’t talk about it often,” she said. “I know she’s looking down at every game that I’ve played here and just so proud. I know that game would have meant so much to her.”

Not only did Wright come home to Kentucky, she quickly earned the respect of her teammates. She’s wearing that captain armband in just her second season in Louisville, which speaks volumes about the person her parents raised her to be and her impact in the locker room.

“To come and be back in my home state, which is where I wanted to be, and to come into this group and they accept me and really look to me and trust me to lead them, it meant a lot,” Wright said.

Wright isn’t new to leading. She served alongside Alyssa Naeher as a captain in Chicago. In a leadership role, knowing she won't play forever, Wright wants to lift her teammates up along the way.

“My version of leading is empowering my teammates to have a voice and empowering them to also lead. You want to leave the game and for people to already have that ability built in and instilled and then to do that themselves as well. So we don't have just one, two, three captains. We've got a team of them.”

Wright and her Racing Louisville teammates host Seattle Reign on May 16 at 7:30 PM ET. You can watch that game on NWSL+.