Well, I am now a Senior Parent. I look back over the past four (4) years and wonder where the time has gone. Four (4) years ago I was still taller than my son. Advance to today and he is now taller than me as he is 6’2â€, 220 pounds and he makes sure I know it.
I have worked on this for the better part of a month and have just now been able to finish this. Last year I wrote this for all of the Senior Parents. This year, this one is for me and those of you who are Senior Parents this year too. As with last year, simply insert the appropriate numbers, names, etc. for your son.I Turned Around Today
I turned around today once the shadow came over me. I found a 6 foot 2 inch man standing behind me. He told me he was getting ready to go to football practice. I am guessing he is about a ham sandwich away from 220 pounds. “Tall and strong as an ox†as my father would say. All I could think was, is this my boy?
I turned around at the hospital almost 18 years ago and saw him for the first time. I am sure the nurses had a cute name for him, which is one of many names he will collect over the years...the best one I can think of is “Sonâ€.
I turned around to get him out of the car and off to his first day of school. At the time I did not realize that it was a start of a journey for him and me. He was taught right and wrong at home and everything else at school. He has done well with a 3.95 GPA and is ranked second in this class. I too was just short of a 4.0 GPA…until the second day of school. Thank you to his step-mother, mother, step-father, grandparents and all his teachers everywhere, both at the old Harding Elementary School in Sciotoville and in Minford for your guidance and direction over the years.
I turned around and found a 3rd grader strapping on his football pads getting ready for his first game. It took awhile for him to understand that he did not have to apologize and help up the kid he just knocked down on the field. That first year of football, he learned the fundamentals of this wonderful game from a coach who learned his fundamentals from the likes of Jim “Snuffy†Smith and Darryl Davis. As that coach, I had the pleasure of coaching him for four (4) years and then it was time for Junior High and High School.
I turned around and gave him the keys to the car to go and workout at 6 a.m. during baseball season, as well as during the summer with the football team. He continued to learn the complexity of the game, the meaning of "team" and the maturity to win or lose with honor. I learned to enjoy the warmth of the bed for an extra hour or two. With deep gratitude I would like to thank Coach Brent Daniels and the Minford Coaching Staff for coming into his life and taking your time to teach him, along with the other men on the team, about honor, dignity and loyalty both on and off the field.
I will climb the stadium steps this coming Friday one last time and turn around to watch him run out onto the field and play his last regular season home game. I will stand behind my best buddy in life (a.k.a. my wife) and be in awe of the man who wears # 81 for Minford High School. We will watch and cheer loud and my wife will let go with one of her ear shattering whistles.
He of course will hear us and not acknowledge us. He will play his best and in the end perhaps he will walk off the field barefooted. For he once told me he would leave his shoes on the field by the 50-yard line at his last football game. The gesture would show to everyone that he left it all on the football field he grew up on. Personally, I hope this is a few weeks away after a long successful run in the OHSAA playoffs. One thing I can tell you, once the season ends and a pair of cleats sits on the 50 yard line, you will know who they belong to. Little does he know that he left his shoes by my heart a long, long time ago. Good luck tonight son. Strive for your dreams, reach for the stars, and always believe in yourself. Let’s bring home the SOC! GO MINFORD!
