When N's football season ended in December he joined a wrestling club. He can't wrestle on the school team until 7th grade, so this will give him the basics, and some experience in case he wants to try out next year. His dad wrestled in high school and loved it, and wanted N to try it. N. hasn't been too thrilled about practices, but Dad has made him stick with it at least until he had actually had some real matches. I agree with that. It's good for him to stick with his commitment, and not quit until he's given it a real chance.
On Saturday he had his first tournament. He had to be there at 7a.m., and his first match was not until 9:45. I have never been to a wrestling tournament, so I didn't know what to expect when I walked in before his 1st match. There were 4 huge mats on the gym floor with matches in progress on all of them. There were some spectators around the mats, and the bleachers were completely full on one side with yelling parents, grandparents, whatever. It was so loud! I finally found people I knew and sat down to wait. The 9:45 match started about 10:30, and was over very quickly. Poor N. didn't have a chance. The boy he was up against has been wrestling for years, had on the official hideous "uniform" and had his head shaved...very hard core. N. was pinned almost immediately. He came up and sat with me, upset. I did notice throughout the day that about 1/4 of the wrestlers left the mat in tears. It's a brutal sport, and much more physical than I ever imagined. I was also surprised to see children as young as 4 competing, as well as females competing against males. I'm not sure I'm completely sold on wrestling yet.
We watched some of his friends lose their matches, and found out his next match was in about 2 hours. We went and got some lunch, and came back to wait. As little as I knew about these tournaments I did know there would be a lot of dead time so I brought my bag with a book, notebook, snacks, drinks. I knew my ADHD would kick in quickly unless I had something to occupy my time.
Match #2 was against one of his close friends. Neither of them wanted to wrestle one another, but had no choice. The match went a little better, but N was still at a disadvantage. He even said his friend intentionally took it easy on him. We watched more of his friends' matches and left.
We got to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening together. He needed new jeans, and he helped me pick out a couple of things for my apt. For dinner we went to his favorite: Outback. Now it's not for the steak. He loves their chicken fingers! That's him. His favorite restaurant is a steak house, and he doesn't even eat steak! That's ok, because I do! We were sitting close to another family and when they got up to leave the father offered me a card. It was some kind of bonus card he got from buying so many giftcards for his employees around Christmastime. He said he had several more and that they would be expiring before he could use them all. I graciously accepted, of course. N and I had a great meal, and even better conversation. I absolutely love hanging out with him. He is so perceptive and has such a great personality and sense of humor. Our bill came, and it was $22. The card the man gave us was for $20! So.....I paid $2 plus a nice tip for our wonderful server. I was almost in tears just thinking about what a blessing that was. My former principal had a motto that said:
There is a destiny that makes us brothers; None goes his way alone: All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own. ---Edwin Markham
Not to brag at all, but I can remember many times doing acts of kindness like that for others, and at a time I can appreciate it most...someone does it for me. I was truly humbled and thankful. The $20 was incredible, but the symbolism behind it meant even more to me. It's great when you can see God's favor at a time when you need it most. As M told me afterwards: God rewards those who diligently seek him. I do believe that, but my goal is to believe that even when I can't see the tangible evidence.
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