Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Clock is Ticking...

Caleb is in Manila this week for the varsity basketball tournament that concludes this season. Scott and I were able to join him in the fall for the final volleyball tournament in Hong Kong, but couldn't make it work to be a part of this basketball tournament. So for days now we've been texting other parents who are in Manila with the team, trying to get as much of a play-by-play report as we can. It's amounted to just a couple of texts a game, really. Not enough.

Scott, who isn't in Shanghai this week but rather on a business trip in Hong Kong, has emailed Caleb a few times as well. He forwarded one of those email exchanges to me last night with his thoughts about this week with Caleb playing b-ball in Manila, thousands of miles away from us, included. Scott said that he's seeing flashes of little league baseball and junior basketball going through his mind. Back then, we felt like there were hundreds of games ahead of Caleb, more than we could count, really. I remember those days vividly, loving watching our boy from my chair on the sidelines but sometimes feeling that we'd been to SO MANY of these very amateur sporting contests, and wasn't it time to go home?

Well, now the season is over. Caleb has one season of his high school career left to play basketball. One season. Sure, he'll probably play intramural ball in college, and maybe join a men's league's later, but it won't be with the fanfare and crowd support of high school varsity ball. As his parents, we won't likely be there watching. So now the number of games that started in the hundreds have dwindled down to one season. How many games is that? Twenty? Maybe a few more, with tournaments. But it's a finite number, one we can clearly see the end of.

There's the rub. We can see the end. Ten years ago or so when this all started, we had games and seasons stretching ahead of us, and now we don't. We have one season left with this guy.

Can someone stop the clock, please?

6 comments:

Michelle said...

I am not sure if I have ever commented before but I wanted to come out for this one. My brothers are much younger that I am...one by 10 years and the other by 13. I went to almost every baseball, basketball, football, and wrestling match they played in...It was SO hard when the youngest graduated college and the games were over. Then my middle brother began coaching and while we haven't been to many of those games we can still see him in uniform! Plus, with all my dad's extra time he has started umpiring baseball. I have gone to cheer for the ump!!! The fans think that is hysterical when I cheer for for the ump!!!

Good luck, it sure is an exciting and hard time!!!

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, isn't that just the way it is! You put it well Lynne! Mom

Jason and Lisa said...

Well, for that very reason you need to get your school to do some sort of blog for those games that are too far for parents to go. When Jason was at SAS he had to do a blog of some sort during games so parents from the visiting teams could read about the game.
This made me think of all my volleyball years. I even got to play in college, so you never know with your boy. But it does go quickly and I have not played a real v-ball game in 10 years. Enjoy:)

Sarah Jane said...

I never EVER pictured myself crying over basketball. :)

Rebecca said...

Wait! Wait! But nothing ever does.

Hazel's mom said...

This one's a tearjerker, Lynne. I'm already sad for Hazel starting kindergarten in a year and a half (!). I'm hoping we can watch reruns in heaven, even of those events we miss.