With three teenagers there is always something going on.
The last month has provided plenty of excitement for us. Some things to be happy about, some things that are concerning and scary.
Two of the boys are involved in winter high school sports and have had varying degrees of success as their respective seasons wind down.
A, my wrestler, has been wrestling at the Varsity 138 lb weight class all season. He is young, and for a number of years did not wrestle. He is in his second year back in the sport. It seems most of the young men in his weight class are seniors, and his varsity record reflects that. He went 0-2 at the conference tournament last Saturday. His day was done early.
On the bright side, he wrestled in a Junior Varsity tournament on Monday. Wrestlers were divided into four man brackets, and A won all three of his matches. 2-1, 6-4, and a fall in the first period of his third match, taking first place in his bracket. He tried to be real cool about it, but the discerning eye could tell he was excited. When they were all done, I watched him interact with the three kids he wrestled. He shook hands and talked to each of the other guys, an authentic display of sportsmanship and a true revelation of his character.
The Regional tournament is Saturday, and unless he does really, really well his season will be over.
D is on the curling team. He usually curls third on the Junior Varsity squad, but several times he has curled with the Varsity team.
His improvement over last year has been remarkable. His increased confidence is obvious, he is very smooth coming out of the hack, and has much better control of throw weight and accuracy.
Last Thursday, in dramatic fashion, his team qualified for the Junior Varsity State Tournament on the very last stone of the game. With the score tied after seven ends, our skips hammer stone (the last stone of an end) knocked out the opponents shot rock, breaking the tie and laying three for the good guys. Unfortunately I was not able to make it there to watch him play (the game was at 2:00 in the afternoon), but T was there and saw it. The fans watching broke into cheers and applause, unusual at a curling match because of the genteel and reserved nature of the sport. I can only imagine how hard it was for our boys to contain their excitement after winning. You see, before and after every curling match, every opponent shakes every other opponents hand and says "Good curling." An open show of celebration, while still on the ice, would have been considered bad form. It amazes me that 15, 16, and 17 year old kids, after winning a big game like that, were able to maintain their composure and honor the sport by behaving like gentleman. I am most proud that my son was able to do that.
Following recent dentist appointments for all three boys, T and I learned that two of the boys will need to have wisdom teeth extracted. J needs to have four removed, and A needs to have at least seven removed.
SEVEN!
SEVEN FREAKING WISDOM TEETH!
With a smile on his face he told me that he was a freak of nature. T and I spent a lot of money on orthodontics for him, so it's important he have the extractions before it messes up the work we have already done.
Those are the highlights that come to mind.
I am so very proud of my boys. Baseball starts soon, and I can tell that J is very excited about the season starting. It will be his last season of high school sports. I bet I cry after his last game.
