Rise and Shine Girl Blog

Well, there is hope for my tree and my daughter’s play was precious!  I got a little teary eyed.  Yes, because it is hard to believe that my daughter is now 4 years-old and out in the world creating goodness, but also because I find myself teary-eyed and overwhelmed when I am in the presence of people creating something good.

I have talked about my daughter, but I also have a nine year-old son, Cole.  For the last two weeks he has participated in a sports agility camp organized by PART-Power Agility Action Training.  This is a camp that is free and exists by local community and businesses sponsoring the camp.  Sitting back and watching over the last couple of weeks brought several things to mind: 1) It is always great to watch people give to their community 2) This camp gives some kids the opportunity to attend who may not otherwise if they needed to pay 3) It is always fun to watch how male testosterone plays out 4) Watching the 5 year-olds run around reminds me how the years go by when they are stranding next to the older kids.  And yes, again there was a moment when I was a little teary-eyed watching how a variety of people from all walks of life have come together to support our kids.

Speaking of football and tears, my son’s school hosts a pep rally for the local high school football team every year.  Imagine a cafeteria full of kids, dressed in their red garb, face paint and holding up signs rooting on their adopted classroom football player.  It is a sight to see and so Texas!  Here is the best part, at one point during the pep rally our school principal (who has so much energy if I could bottle it up and sell it, I just may be able to bring down the national deficit) starts a chant with the kids, “We believe that we will win!  We believe that we will win!”  This goes on for several minutes and the power that is felt in that room is amazing!  The kids are chanting, jumping up and down, smiling and most importantly connected to each other for those moments.  And yes, you guessed it, I’m on the sidelines of the rally with tears in my eyes.

Cole played tackle football for the first time last year.  It was a great experience for our entire family.  Cole learned several lessons, Mia made some new friends to play with on the sidelines, and my husband and I were able to watch Cole excel at something he truly enjoyed.   How do I know he enjoyed football?  Well, that kid had his practice gear on well before practice, slept with his football and taped (0h, I suppose Tivoed is the more current term)  any football game that was on television.  He then watched the games in the morning before school while eating his breakfast.  He was like an old man, eating his Cheerios, yelling at the TV while chugging down his milk.  Sometimes this was Mia’s morning wake-up call.  My point…there is not doubt Cole loved the football season.

Now, he sits on the fence as to whether he will play this season.  He has verbalized a few reasons as to why he may not play, but it is difficult for my husband and I to comprehend what Cole is saying when his actions were so opposite during the football season.  I personally will be disappointed if Cole chooses not to play this year, not because I need to have a little football stud in the family, but when you see your child enjoy and excel at something it is hard to let them give that up.  Now there is the other part of me who would be happy to never see football clothes in the laundry room again.  Oh, Cole’s football cleats, well, last fall was the wettest fall we have had in the last 60 years.  I don’t think Cole’s cleats ever dried (just imagine the smell).  The entire family was ready get rid of those puppies!

Where am I going with this?  Recently, we have had the opportunity to be around some of Cole’s previous football coaches from last year (great guys!) and they have expressed to Cole that he is a good player and that he needs to play next year.  Cole comes to me, “Mom, I have a dilemma, I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.”  He proceeds to tell me about the recent conversations with the coaches, comments on how he knows the family wants him to play and that he still doesn’t know what he wants to do.  This of course leads to further conversation with the general theme that Cole needs to decide to play for himself, not anyone else.  The conversation closes with, “Now mom, I know you have the coaches emails and that we run into them, so if I decide not to play this year, will you have my back?”  

Isn’t that what we all want?  Don’t we all hope that someone has our back?  It may be supporting a spouse through a rough patch, advocating for our kids, standing up for a friend when they are not present, or taking a stand for a complete stranger who is in need. 

Who’s got your back?  Thank them!

Who’s back do you have?  Support them!

Rise and Shine!