This fall I've watched that young man find himself. He did it through football. He's a good athlete and has done well in both baseball and soccer. But football has made as much of an impression on him as he has made on it. His hard work and big heart has earned him the respect of his peers. He's found a bond.
I have watched my football player's attitude turn around this Fall.
So why was this the best weekend ever? Well I thought it was pretty awesome myself! We went shopping at outlets in Maryland where of course they had plenty of Baltimore Ravens gear. That is his favorite team. He got a couple pair of new kicks and some new Ravens gear of his own. (My boys will shop if you mix in a fair number of athletic stores) Then we took him and his stepbrother to the Charles Town track to watch horse racing. Of course they were assessing the horses before each race and picking who they were pulling for. It was a long night and they had the endurance for it. And the next day - football in the Wild and Wonderful! We were wrapped up in as many layers as we could pile on while snow flurries fell from the cold, dry sky. We cheered on the Martinsburg Bulldogs as they defeated the Morgantown Mohicans in the West Virginia state semi-finals. Lots of hot chocolate, nachos and pretzels. Then back to our friends' house where the boys and our friends' daughter played Beatles RockBand for an hour.
All pretty simple stuff, but stuff that we all love and we did it together. Now we were a couple of children short as we let the two who don't share that love do something with their other parent. But that was okay. They were happy not to be out in the cold and neither of the other two could have kept the long hours.
We had a weekend that we will all remember. I have a son who is enjoying things in ways that I haven't seen in a very long time. I love his smiling face and I was so happy to see so much of it this Fall.
What did I have to do to get this experience. Trust in my son. You see he was under weight for one football league so he had to play in a league with guys his age but three times his size. He's 76 lbs and he played with guys that ranged from 130 lbs to 200 lbs. He only has one functioning kidney to add to the horror. But it was all he wanted. I made him promise to exercise everyday to stay strong so he could endure the hits. I listened to my mother and grandmother tell me what a bad idea this was and I watched my boy get lit up a number of times. But I also watched my boy get up and run down plays. I watched him grow more confident every week. The season is over and he's better than ever. It took a leap on my part and a lot of conversations with a 12 year old.
No comments:
Post a Comment