Ah the last game, the end of the road and lots to look back on. The team lost to a fast team on the other side of the state but made a lot of memories along the way. The week before when they won their opening game, Harold watched patiently from the sideline. A coach apparently in charge of rotation was gone supporting his family in another state, thus the coaches "lost track" of who had played and who had not. This was bittersweet as we have intense work hours these days with 400 + cows under our care and responsibility on top of the already loaded work schedule at the mechanic shop. Thus roles are being shifted and all hands are being put to work and missing this very helpful knowledgeable set of hands was really hard. But he learned how to cheer and support and watched a good game. He also had a great time with teammates and just added to his collection of high school memories.
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| Photos thanks to Angie Aldred |
The next week he worked doubly hard to prove he should not be forgotten. he won the bull int he ring or a strength challenge against all but 2 of the other linemen starters and all. He worked hard to be attentive and aggressive. And so when it came to game time he got to play. We, of course, were at home watching cows in between sneaking off to a baby funeral of a friend. We were however anxiously checking facebook for any updates and praying for our player.
I love how these pictures show him always taking on two guys. He is strong and he wants to take on the world. Football has been a good place to grow that desire and develop that skill. He is relatively unknown so when he goes in he shakes up the other team's players. Case in point this time the guy across from him on the line had a beard. Harold complimented him on it the guy got distracted and jumped offsides. The next time Harold asked him how to grow a beard again distracting him. He plays as a nice guy not a trash talker bully. He helps people up and he talks to the refs. I love that.
He also has other skills. I got a text late on Thursday night reporting the bus had broken down but Harold was working on it. I love that he could and even tried. The bus had more problems than he could fix on the side of the road with no supplies and limited tools but he did get it to go a little farther. I'm thankful he has multiple skill sets and confidence in almost any situation.
We all survived the season we all grew a lot and learned we are capable of more than we thought. The younger group had to shift up in responsibility and work and that was really good! They all are old enough to be doing more than they were. It drug me out of the house to go mingle with the community I had no idea how much of a social event sports games are in our town. It was good to visit and it was good to support. Even though Harold had more than a few weeks playing the part of Rudy just preparing the guys to do well at their weekend game he gained from that as well. It's good to learn humility and to learn to be part of a team even if you are not the star. He had some humble fellow teammates that were such great examples of being the water boys for the JV team even though they are all-state players. He also had teammates who took the initiative to read the Bible before bed, so Harold did too.
Though this was a pretty big trial of faith and prayer it has turned out surprisingly well. I think the biggest blessing is knowing the prompting was real and then following through to the end and letting the lessons happen. This was another testament to me that God is in the details of our Life and he cares about our hearts sincere desires and helps us if we just trust Him. At least I saw that for Harold these past 6 months. Life is good and now we find a new normal and prepare for next season.
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