One Last Hurrah

Back on June 2 (the same day our twin granddaughters were born), our son's high school lacrosse team lost in the quarterfinals of the play-offs, and I was lamenting the end of the long and wonderful era of cheering on my sons from the sidelines. High school sports were over for our family, forever, and that made me a bit sad.

Well, yesterday we got one last hurrah, one last opportunity to watch our youngest play lacrosse. He was chosen, along with 29 other boys from around our state, to play in a game called the "Twin State All-Star Lacrosse Game." We traveled about 2 hours to watch him compete in a game against top players from a state that borders ours. He played extremely well (in the picture, he's the one in the red jersey); but what was even more satisfying to watch was how he embraced his new team as if he'd been playing with them for ages. They had a 1 hour and 15 minute practice session in preparation for the game; then they ate lunch, watched a girls' high school all-star lacrosse game, and had a team photo taken. Beyond that, they had only a 1/2 hour warm-up before game time. There wasn't much of a chance to really get to know each other. Some of the players had teammates from their high schools there with them, but our son was the only one from his team. He was acquainted with a couple of the guys from his youth lacrosse days, but he really didn't know anyone there all that well. If I'd been in his cleats, I'd have felt so shy and out of place. Not him. He was talking to his teammates as if he'd been able to spend a lot of time with them, and fist-bumping with the goalie and the other defensemen whenever his team scored a goal. He's not an extrovert or anything, but he manages to feel comfortable in most settings. And this boy is nothing if not a team player.

Our state's all-stars beat the other state's, 13-10. Woo hoo! It was a really fun game to watch. But the most enjoyable thing of all was watching my youngest son show, for one last time, that it never matters to him if he has a good individual performance--because with him, it's all about the team. I am so very proud of this boy!