Little Big Man

/

March_2008_026Nicholas played his first travel soccer game at 8:00 this morning. It was 35 degrees outside. He's playing on Stephen's team, which is technically two years older than his age group. He begged to do this and he mostly holds his own. But he's still such a little guy. Actually, he's a huge guy, as big as the average nine -year-old and much bigger than Michael was at ten. Nevertheless, he's my baby boy. At halftime, they were up 3-2. Nicky played goalkeeper the second half. They lost 8-4. That's six goals scored on my baby, ladies. I wanted to cry. But I didn't.

Nick got in the car after the game and I tried as hard as I could to channel a good soccer mom--any good soccer mom.

Me: I'm so proud of you, Nick.
Nicky(raising his eyebrows): Why?
Me: Because you didn't cry out there. It was hard and you got discouraged but you didn't cry.
Nicky: Well, tears did get in my eyes, but I didn't let them out.
Me: That's because you're a big man. I think if I'd been in that goal, I would have cried. But you didn't because you are a great, big, brave man.
Nicky: Mom, you might think I'm a big man, but really, in that goal, I was a little boy. It was a huge goal.

It was.

Huge.

First Date

/

Twenty-seven years ago, a high school sophomore got on a bus bound for Charlottesville. It was a two hour ride to the semifinals of the Virginia State High School Basketball Championships. She sat next to a very tall handsome baseball player who barely made the bus because spring training had begun. He'd gotten them tickets and so this counted as a first date. It was pretty much her first date ever. It wasn't very private. His best friend sat behind them and chaperoned. They went back again the next night to watch their high school team win it all. A few  years later, she'd begin to drive that trip again and again and again-- back and forth to Charlottesville to go to school and then to come home to see him. They'd walk the campus of UVa one weekend and GMU the next.  And then, they'd talk late into the night about whether to live here or there.  The backseat chaperone became the best man and then the godfather. It is poetic (sort of;-) to note that all these years later, they are still driving all over Virginia with a whole bunch of kids  pretty much every weekend to go to one tournament or another.
Honey, I'm in Herndon this afternoon for the U-9 scrimmage and you are at Bull Run for the pre-Jefferson Cup run-through. Maybe later, we can meet back here and have a date...