A Shout-Out To My Boys

Every now and then I use this blog to post something family related. This is one such post.

Stephen's Latest Triumph
About a year ago my oldest son Stephen (now 10) was disappointed when he was passed over for the All-Star Soccer Team. He had worked hard on his soccer skills the previous summer and had certainly improved as a player. If I had to guess, I'd say he was probably on the bubble last year to make the team.

But this year was different. After last year's disappointment, Stephen again worked hard on dribbling, passing and blasting the ball. He scored an average of 2 goals each game in his league and was one of the first kids picked for the All-Star Team. His All-Star Team made it to the district championship game which determined which team was to go to the state tournament.

The team they played against in the championship game was very good. Within 5 minutes the other team had scored three times. At halftime the score was 4-0. Let me say here that this is not one of those triumphant comeback stories you see in the movies. No, when the whistle blew to end the game the final score was 7-1. The one point our team did score was scored by Stephen. Although I am certain Stephen would have traded his score for a win it was nice to see him juke the fullback and blast the ball into the corner of the net.

Jacob's Latest Triumph
Yesterday my 7 year old son, Jacob, brought home an award with the words New School Hula Hoop Record - 49:18. I thought it a little odd that the school had a Hula Hoop Record and that noone had been able to hula hoop for longer than a minute. I congratulated Jacob on his triumph and he said "Dad, can you believe I hula hooped for 49 minutes and 18 seconds." I told him it was 49.18 seconds; not 49 minutes 18 seconds.

Jacob continued to insist that it was in fact 49 minutes but neither my wife nor I really thought he knew what he was talking about. I mean he is a first grader and what do they know. I reasoned that even if it were possible for him to hula hoop for 49 minutes, no teacher would stand there and let some 1st grader keep hula hooping when there were other subjects to teach.

This morning when my wife dropped Jacob off one of the teachers approached the van and asked her if she was proud of Jacob hula hooping for 49 minutes. The teacher said she had actually watched him set the record and that she had even fallen asleep at one point. Boy did I feel stupid when my wife called and told me that Jacob was right all along. Jacob won't let us get out of this one without eating a little crow.