When Sam first learned to walk, one of his favorite places to run around was the gymnasium at my school. When he was almost two, he launched his first basketball in the direction of a hoop on that floor. When he was three, and had a newborn brother, our first Mommy-Sammy date away from the baby-was to watch the sixth graders boys basketball team play a big game there. Many of the boys, on this year’s team not only know him by name, but seek him out for the bump, or the hug, or an offer to take a shot.
Today at the half time, he walked up to the athletic director, got the game ball, dribbled to the back court and sunk it. Over and over again. The perimeter erupted with applause.
You’ve grown up in that gym, I told him in the car on the way home.
In the rear view mirror I caught his eyes, beaming. Maybe he was reliving those sweet shots, or maybe he was seeing himself in the bodies of those agile young men, pounding the backboard with another home team victory just minutes away.
I can’t think of a better place to grow up than a basketball gym. Lucky boys!
Right? It is wild that he is a “faculty brat” of sorts. Several folks had kids at the same time so they all know each other. It’s wild. He has seen me read poems at faculty talent show, they have both spent the day with me if day care closed etc. I love their comfort in “middle school” setting too.
I am still marveling at the pic of your dad btw!
Theo loves sports. He goes crazy when he sees bigger kids or grownups playing. He dashes into the field and I dutifully chase him 😉