It Ends

Well, we finished up the season last night. It was the first game of the playoffs and, to be honest, I don't think our boys even showed up. It was sad, really. Sandcreek kicked our butts 21-6. Ouch! The coaches were awesome though, they made sure everybody played in this, their final game. Then, at our post-game meeting, as a few of the boys (including mine) shed disappointed tears, they pointed out that 25 other teams didn't even make it to the playoffs. The coaches told the boys how proud they are and that they were already looking forward to next season. I felt really bad for the boys. They were so down-hearted about the loss and that the season is over. I even found out that I am sad to see it end. I thought I would be happy to be done with practices every day of the week, and I guess I am, a little bit, but I really am gonna miss watching Tristan's face when he was very proud of himself and his teammates. I'm gonna miss standing on the sidelines cheering our boys on.
I'm also gonna miss telling my son things like, "Go out there and hit somebody!", or "I wanna see you make someone cry!" Yes, I actually said that. Turns out that I'm a nasty woman. But, I'm okay with that. I've come to the conclusion that football is a violent sport and pain is part of the game. The boys expect to be hurt and plan to just suck it up, use it to fire them up. So, it turns out, I am a different person that the one that started at the beginning of the season. I have gone from the mom who was worried about rushing out to the field to comfort her embarrassed son who just got tackled to the Mom on the sidelines screaming for him to rub some dirt on it and get back up and hit them back!
Plus, I have learned a lot about the game that I didn't know before and that ought to make Thanksgiving, and New Year's Days much more enjoyable!