Senior Year

Today was my oldest son's first football 7 on 7 tournament as a senior.  7 on 7 is a passing league, no equipment and no tackling.  I couldn't help but think today as I watched him, about the years before when he was starting out playing football at just six years old and 42lbs, the years he quarterbacked, confident and sure as he led his team or the year his 13U team won the AA County Championships and he leaped into a friends embrace with a smile a mile wide.  He was so small then and now, even though he surely isn't a giant, he is strong and lean and has a gift for reading the quarterback and knowing where the ball will go.  This will definitely be a bittersweet year for me.  Over the past twelve years, nine of them coached by his father including this one, I have watched him beat the odds, almost always the smallest kid out there, but definitely not the least talented.  He has always had to play twice as well and work twice as hard even to be noticed.  When you are 5ft 5" and 130lbs out on a field with guys literally twice your weight and more than a foot taller, you have to be tough...and he is.  I am so proud of him.  Watching him play football has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life and it seemed that it would always be so, but today, at age eighteen, he has officially begun his very last season of football as a "child".  He won't be able to compete at the college level with his size, something he has long since come to terms with.  At this point, I don't think he is even bothered by it.  I, however, will miss this so much.  He is a beautiful boy, both inside and out, and seeing him in action is always exciting.  Good luck, son, in your final year.  Enjoy every single minute.  Thank you for the wonderful memories you have given us.  We have gone places, made friends and done things that we never would have if we hadn't taken the path you led us on.  I love you.