Because Isaac plays on the JV football
team, his games begin a 4 p.m. in the afternoon. This earlier start time has made it impractical
for me to go to his away games (except for the game in Big Bear which
was on a Saturday and the final game against Excelsior charter school which will
be local). This bugs me a little bit
because my parents were in the bleachers for almost all of my games. As I think about it, about the only games
they didn’t attend was the yearly basketball away trip to Baggs and Encampment,
Wyoming—yes, the town’s name is Baggs; I’m not making it up. I can get off work and hour or so earlier for
home games and get up the hill, usually close to on time. Thankfully, Isaac appreciates the fact that
I’ve done my best to make the starts of his home games—an interesting prospect
given the idiosyncrasies of Southern California traffic.
I found myself a bit on the
peeved side (I’m cleaning up my usual word) as I headed up the hill for today’s
game. Traffic had worked in my favor,
even for a Friday, and I had made good time.
When I pulled off the exit to make the final 6 or so miles to the
school, I looked at the clock on my dashboard and realized I had a good chance
of getting into the stands by kickoff. I
would have made it to this last home
game on time, but I guess the refs started it five minutes earlier than
advertised. Upon arrival, I saw the game
was in progress! Jennifer told me Isaac
had been on the field for the kickoff. I
missed it! I will admit; I wasn’t very
happy. Fortunately, Isaac got more
chances during the game to come on the field for extra points and kickoffs and
this time, I remembered to ask Jennifer to bring the video camera. I was able to get pictures of him during his
other times on the field.
The JV squad lost the game
(they slept-walked through the 1st half and were down 3 touchdowns before they
finally woke up and scored twice, but the deficit was too large to overcome). I guess I could say that Isaac is “paying his
dues” as a freshman. Being that this is
his first year of playing tackle football, he is learning the ropes. It seems as though he is improving, but with
players who are better than he is ahead of him, he spends most of his time on
the sidelines. I totally get it. While Cokeville didn’t have a JV team, I spent
most of my time on the sidelines my freshman year as well—and rightfully
so. I’m grateful for the opportunities
Isaac has had to play.
Ben was down on the field
during the game. Jennifer told me he had
been asked to run the scoreboard. At
first, I couldn’t figure out how he could be running the scoreboard walking
along the sidelines of the football field as he was. Jennifer pointed out a device in Ben’s hand
and told me he was controlling the scoreboard with it. I was impressed. I watched as he followed the teams along the
sidelines. He would always remain in
sight of the head referee in order to see the different hand signals telling
him to start or stop the clock. At
halftime, Ben showed me the scoreboard controller. At one point, during a lull in the action,
the head referee and he had a conversation.
Ben told me later the ref had told him he was doing a good job and they
had a conversation about Ben’s plans after high school. He was hoping to be able to run the clock
during the varsity game, but was told only an adult can do so. He was disappointed, but rules are rules.
The thing that amazed me even
more than Ben controlling the scoreboard with a handheld device was watching
him walking and interacting with people along the sidelines. Ben completed his pain management program
last week. I wrote a post about our Family Day visit to the program and how impressed I was with the people involved
and the time they were taking with Ben. Now
that he is finished with the program, the progress he has made during these
last eight weeks has been amazing. I am
reminded of our vacation and of Ben’s stay in the hospital. During our vacation, he had wraps around his
left wrist, right ankle and left knee.
He sometimes had trouble standing and walking. During a picture taking session, with Sandra's family, I had to stand next to Ben in order to help him remain
standing. By the time he had his
appendix removed, he had wraps around both ankles and wrists with all the other
problems previously mentioned.
Today, as I watched him walk
the sidelines, I noticed he had a bit of a limp because of his knee (which is
now in a brace), but he was walking without his cane because he wanted to see
if he could go without it for a prolonged period (he told me later he was
feeling the effects of not having his cane by the time the varsity game
ended). The ankle and knee wraps are
gone. He is walking better and has
moments when he doesn’t need his cane. A
couple of weeks ago, as I watched him break the bread for sacrament, I realized
he wasn’t grimacing because his wrists weren’t bothering him. I wrote this post about the “process”
he had been going through in order to accomplish this priesthood ordinance on a
weekly basis. Now, that processes has
been replaced with a return to a more normal routine. As parents, Jen and I are very happy with the
results we have seen. We know we were
led to this program by a loving Father in Heaven.
Ben isn’t pain free; he and
pain will be companions the rest of his life.
However, with the techniques he has learned; the strategies he was been
given; and the exercises he’s been taught, Ben has discovered how to keep the
pain at a lower level and how to pace himself in order to not become
overwhelmed. This has been a tremendous
blessing. Ben has also fully recovered
from his appendicitis. When I think of
all the prayers and fasting and good wishes he received from family, ward
members, and friends over the last several months, I find myself very grateful
for everything done in his behalf. One
of the fringe benefits of his newfound confidence is that he has been given the
chance to play the part of Jonathan in his drama class’ presentation of Arsenic and Old Lace. I believe this will be in November. I am very much looking forward to it.
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