My Son is My Hero

There is no such thing as too much sports for a body! What a fun week we have had! Tuesday saw us at the arena for our last early morning school hockey practise and Tuesday afternoon....our first exhibition game (which we won). On Thursday we played our second game, which we also won. It has been such fun to sit in the stands and watch these games with the moms and dads who can make it. (I also took Kevin along for those two games, since he only had to miss a half hour of school at the end of each day.) Friday afternoon I got the privilege of driving a carload of basketball playing boys to London for the year end tournament. The boys played two really close games, played their hearts out. Joe was not expecting to play very much especially since the games were so close in score, but you should have seen his face light up when his coach told him to go in. He was just beaming. Beaming is actually an understatement. It was just such a joy to see and made the drive to London totally worth it. He was so pumped.

Since we lost the first game, played at 3:30, we were scheduled to play a second game at 8pm. Between the games we all went to Mr Wolting's house for hotdogs and burgers on the BBQ, chips and pop. Perfect game day food. Much Guitar Hero World Tour was played...some of those guys can really wail! They had a blast and so did the parent drivers! Some of the moms, there were two of us, headed to the nearby Scrapbook Memories store for some paper and other supplies. A good time was had by both and then we headed back to the gym. These are some cards I made today with the papers and alphas I bought, plus some of the ribbon I picked up during the week.


During the second game, the teams were always within one basket of each other and Joe only got a shift or two which was fine by him. We knew that before we came.... He didn't feel the greatest about his playing at that time and came up to sit with me but....I encouraged him to sit out the rest of the game with his friends on the bench. After all, court side seats don't become available everyday :):)

One of my favourite things was the ride home with Joe and two team members Cody and Phil. Cody insisted we hurry home so that he wouldn't have to miss his hockey game. We played loud music all the way home and rocked AND rolled. Cody is on the same hockey team as Craig and they play every Friday night, either at 8pm or at 9:30....this week they had the 9:30 game. SO after ALL that hockey ALL week, ALL that basketball ALL day....these guys were still pumped to go and play hockey. I gave Joe the option of going home for a shower and head off to bed? or go to the game and watch Craig and Cody play? Joe went with door #2, and we ended up at the arena again. We had such fun and Cody's dad came and sat with us....we also saw parents of some of the other boys, which means that they played too after playing all week and all day. They just can't get enough!!! I had a nice talk with Cody's dad since they were kind of in the same boat that we were in with Joe....


I titled this post...My Son Is My Hero. Why? Because he got to play 5 minutes in a game that he wasn't expected to play in at all. It meant more to him to play those five minutes than it meant to some of the other guys to play the whole game....and he was in really great spirits the whole game through. He's not always the most positive thinker about himself so this was a real compliment to hear from his coach. So...he's come such a long way....and worked so hard, and that's what makes him my hero. Love ya, Joe!

His coach is pretty great too, going out on a limb and putting Joe in when he didn't really have to and might take some flack for doing so...and quite brave for having all these hyper lads over to hang out between games. I thought that deserved a card....inside it says "above & beyond".