Last week, I wrote a screed about the evils of games. Funny how life works out. See, this past week, my sixteen year-old made the varsity squad for his high school soccer team. So, um, yeah, that was kinda ironic.
And so I have to go to the games and watch him play with guys who are playing hard, and sometimes not by the rules. I mean, elbows are thrown and shoving is shoved and it’s rough out there. In fact, this weekend, in the last match, the guy he was covering was throwing so many elbows that it forced my son to lift his head when he could. Except that made him an easier target and the opponent connected the elbow to my son’s teeth, tearing his lip. So, y’know, the bleeding and such.
There weren’t any stitches needed – he just sat out for a few minutes with some ice and paper towels to staunch the blood enough to appease the ref.
Lots of fun for me to watch.
Still, I know my job is not to make him into what I want, or to shape the world into a soft pillow, but instead to just be there for him. So I’m there on the sidelines, cheering through clenched teeth.
by Stu Mark
Photo graciously provided by Marty (S), through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
3 responses so far ↓
AmyL // Dec 29, 2008 at 1:19 pm
ugh. you SO have my sympathy! We’re approaching that stage faster than I’d like (with the boys playing football last year). I’ll probably be clenching my teeth someday too.
Dave // Dec 30, 2008 at 5:16 am
So proud of Nich! Great article. Felt like I was there. An incredible accomplishment for such a young man…
– Dave
dad/hop // Dec 31, 2008 at 9:19 am
Good for you Nich!
You keep on plying by the rules even though the other guys don’t
I am proud of you
Hop
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