Flag football saved Sport’s life. Okay, so I’m being a little melodramatic, but it definitely pulled him from the abyss of darkness and woe, from the deep storm of internal anguish and… Okay, okay. I’ll stop.
When we first moved to Washington, My Boy was down. He had left a father in Utah and his friends in Idaho Falls. What could there possibly be for him here? There were quick and intense outbursts of anger and lots of crying (from both of us). For three weeks (which is like 5 mom years), I had to drag him from bed and insist that he go to school. And for three weeks, I listened to him complain about how horrible life was when he was at school. It was bad enough that I started to wonder if he was clinically depressed.
Until he started to play football. From his first practice, there was change. Here he is at his first game. See that smile, that glow?
Here’s a huddle. They’re discussing something important, I can just feel it. “So maybe, dude, you can throw me the ball, and I’ll run really fast.”
Here’s Sport running really fast. You can tell because the picture is blurry. It has nothing to do with my photography skills. He was that blurry in real life. You can also see his coach in this picture, who, bless his soul, will forever be known as Coach Rocks!
And here he is running really fast again. Please don’t ask how many yards he ran or what down they’re on or who won the Heisman Trophy in 2003. I’m useless that way.
He would also take a few minutes at halftime to meet and greet his fans; here he is with his darling cousin, A (notice how he never smiles with his teeth? And this was when he still had them!).
Sport enjoyed every practice and every game. And to commemorate his final game…
He chipped his tooth. At a flag football game. People, he’s eligible for tackle, but I didn’t sign him up for a reason. But Sport goes and gets his tooth chipped because some kid with arms of steel whacked him in the mouth.
But then I look at this picture again and realize it was all worth it.
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