Oldest shared a story with me the other night that made my heart just a little proud. All of us parents, mentors and all-around good folk can only hope that when we try to share the "how to be a good person" lessons, that these kids are listening. I had a moment when God really let me see that inside this huge, 17 year old, 210 frame, a boy is listening, and, as my mother would say, he "has a good heart". Here's the scene:
Oldest is walking down the hall at school and sees a "fat, white kid" get thrown up against the locker by the throat by some other kid. Following the neck-love, the poor boy falls to the ground and the bully walks off. Oldest approaches and helps the poor bullied kid off the floor. "Hey man, you okay?", he says as he helps him to his feet. The boy, looking petrified (wonder if he was thinking if this football player is going to assault him next?), says "it's okay. I'm fine". Oldest replies, "no man, it's not fine." At which point Oldest yells for the bully to come back. Petrified boy, takes off running and bully boy comes back. Oldest asks, "Hey, what did you do that for?" Bully boy offers some lame excuse about how petrified boy pushed his backpack off the desk. Oldest says, "Dude, don't do that. You don't treat anybody like that. If I find out you are picking on this boy again I'll shove my fist down your throat." Awww, it's enough to make a mama proud. Bully boy gets the message and now becomes petrified boy number 2, replies okay and takes off running himself. If Oldest had of come at me like that I think I would get the message too. Loud and clear.
Now, you would think this was a scene out of a movie. That's what I thought as Oldest was relaying it to me. I asked him several times to leave out the exaggerations and enhancements, but he swears it happened just like that. He said that was the first time he had ever witnessed bullying first-hand. I told him I was really proud of him standing up for this poor kid. Oldest felt bad for the boy who, obviously, according to Oldest, was just a kid that was going to get picked on. Oldest used his physical and social stature to help this kid. Bully boy and Petrified boy will never forget that experience. Who knows, that moment could be life-changing for both boys.
And on to more exciting news...I wish, friends, you could be with us at just one Chantilly football game. We're talking major, major excitement. Last night, Chantilly faced Robinson. Robinson, who just the week before, took down the number one ranked team in the Region, Lake Braddock. Robinson, feeling high and mighty off that previous week's win, came out to play some serious ball. Chantilly knew they would have to play hard, no mistakes, and come prepared to fight for a win. When we reached second quarter and Robinson was the first to score, I became a little concerned for the first time. I'm very confident in our boys, but Robinson was showing us a little something-something. I'm happy to say Oldest was back out on the field and because it was an away game, I can't report to you how many times Oldest's name was called by the announcer. Although we couldn't hear the play-by-play from the announcer's microphone on the other side of the field, we could see that the Defense was doing big things. I would venture to say that the amazing Defense is what won that game. One teammate did get a beautiful interception that led to a run stopping quite near the end zone. That one play led to a touchdown for us. And with that change of momentum, Chantilly was in it to win it. Final score 24-14 and Robinson, try as they might, just could not come back from Chantilly's lead.
The boys played well and won only because their heart was in it, Defense (my boy!) was outstanding and Offense was able to make some plays. We gotta work on that offense, especially leading into next week's game, which no doubt will be THE game of the season. Next week we face Centreville is the last team in our district to be 6-0, just like Chantilly. This is going to be a serious match-up and only one team can win, so no doubt both teams will be fighting for it. The boy's 6-0 record is a first time in Chantilly football history. Oldest says he didn't play as well as he could have, but I tell you friends, he was in some serious tackles. He was double-teamed with two big guys facing him. Still he managed to get through them, get into the quarterback's zone, and take him down a few times. Very nice.
And lest you think this boy is a perfect teenager, living a happy, gleeful life, I must tell you he pouted his way to his this morning. Just like a sullen, 17 year old, pouty teenager would be, he didn't disappoint his tribe. Grumpy and grouchy he went. Not happy to sit for a 4 hour test after that exciting high last night. My loving, empathetic motherly response: "get over it."
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