Weekend Football and The Loss of a Friend

I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm actually glad that the weekend is over!

So what did I do this weekend?

Absolutely nothing crafty, but I ran my behind off!

Saturday, I was able to have some quality time with the hubs - also known as work.  We hit the floor running at 7:30 and unloaded 80 bales of hay and ground four large stumps for a couple of clients.  I manage to talk him into stopping at a sports bar to watch the first half of the CyHawk game (THREE OVERTIMES and we lost!  BOO!), before we headed off to mow an apartment complex that I despise mowing.  Its mostly elderly people and they, without fail, come outside and sit in lawn chairs to watch us mow - making a two hour job last three hours because we can't mow anywhere close to where they're sitting.  Grrrrrrrr!  I try to remind myself that I've been taught to respect my elders.  :P 

Next, we had to take a tree off a garage due to some storm damage.  Said tree was covered in poison ivy and while I had avoided the dreaded plague last week in our ditch, I didn't realize what it was until after we finished the job.  I now am sporting a lovely rash on the underside of my chin, on both of my forearms, and behind one knee.  Lucky me!  After bidding 3 more jobs, we went shopping for the little man and got home a little after 8:00.

Note to self:  Leaving a 12 year old boy to babysit three other children is a bad idea.  The diva clogged up a toilet with paper towels after cleaning up a mess she made with paint, which then overflowed.  Greyson then used every clean towel in the house to clean it up, but not before it seeped through the ceiling into the kitchen, where he used every clean hand towel in the house to clean that mess up.  Not to mention the dirty dishes piled in the sink and the general mess that kids make.  That will be the first and last time I help the hubs on a weekend!

Sunday we found time to sleep in, when we should have been in church.  Ian's first football game of the season was at 1:30 and we had to be there at 12:15.  Our half back was sick, so we started at a distinct disadvantage.  Ian was moved from split end to full back and ended up playing for the whole entire game on offense and defense in 86 degree weather.  On defense he's free safety and generally makes a good majority of the tackles.  I think he sat out for 5 plays, the entire game!  Poor guy!  If I heard the coach scream "Heise" once, I heard it one time too many.  You can't win a game off the back of one child, especially when your line isn't blocking!

Here's a couple of short (8 second) videos from the game:

Ian making one of many tackles:

Ian running the ball:

And Ian getting yelled at the missing a tackle:

Maybe its just the momma-bear in me coming out, but how many other kids did the ball carrier fly right by?  Errrrrrrr....  

I even had to yell over the fence at the coach to remind him that Ian had to come out to drink.  He played an entire quarter without coming off the field once.  And the coach says, "He's okay."  I'm like, "Uhhhh, Coach?  Its 86 degrees and he hasn't come off the field once."  He says, "Oh!  Well, we'll get him off after this play."  ARGH!

And then when I was talking to the coach during wrestling practice (he's also our head youth wrestling coach), he said that Ian wasn't at his best because he was trying too hard.  Being I'm pretty good friends with the guy I didn't have a problem replying drolly, "Well, it probably didn't have anything to do with you yelling Heise every play."  I think he knew I had him there.  ;)  

Bless Ian's heart.  I asked him afterward, "Did you feel like you were responsible for the whole game?"  He said, "Yeah.  They yelled my name a lot."  So to pump him up after their 14-0 loss, I told him, "Well, that's just because they figured if anyone could turn the game around, it was you, because you're so good."  LOL  That's a lot of pressure to put on a 10 year old.

So, after football we went pretty much directly to wrestling practice where both Ian and Noah had been chosen as part of 22 phenomenal youth wrestlers from our club that were given the opportunity to train with the high school team under Coach Caldwell - our 9x IHSAA State Championship coach, as well as our two new coaches that replaced him this year after he retired.  What a huge and awesome opportunity for them both.  After two hours of grueling practice, we finally got home.

Both boys were tired and bruised and then spent the rest of the evening vegetating in front of the TV.  You would have thought they would have conked out, but I guess their endorphins were kicking because they were wound up until about 10:30.  That's the only bad thing about evening practices.

Moms, I tell you what.  There are some things in life that make you so appreciate your children.  Yesterday, I had one of those moments.  Its just those times where you want to gather your children close and hold onto them a little tighter.

When we were leaving the football game yesterday, I got a text telling me that one of Noah's competitors in youth wrestling had been killed in a roll over 4 wheeler accident.  Tate was 9 years old. Let me tell you a little about Tate.  This is a kid that you would look at and have no clue how ferocious he is on the mat.  Slightly built, quiet demeanor...  He was an absolute tiger.  Noah, who is currently State Runner-Up in the 2nd grade 58 lb class was totally dominated by Tate early last season, 14-0.  Tate was (I feel horrible saying "was") a polite and well-liked young man.  He possessed great sportsmanship and was a phenomenal athlete.  His father is the head coach for his wrestling club.  We had just seen Tate in July when their club hosted a wrestling camp and I picked on him about this upcoming season.  Noah and him played and ran around, just being kids.  That's one of the great things about competitive youth wrestling - your competition becomes your friend.  And now he is gone.  My heart bleeds for his parents.  And my heart ached as I had to explain to Noah that is friend is gone.  It is just devastating for our close-knit wrestling community.

And since we own three 4 wheelers, its enough for me to want to throw away the keys.  How many times have I scolded my own children for going too fast or turning too sharp?  And then you feel bad because you realize it could've been your child and you're so thankful that it wasn't.  I think I'm going to hide the keys for a while.

And as with most things, life will go on with one less youthful smiling face to brighten our lives.  The kids are off to school and this evening will bring football and wrestling practice.  But for the Johnson family, life will go on, but will never, ever be the same.  Our thoughts and prayers are with them.