Basketball and tears

Last Saturday my sister-n-law and her sweet kids and my Mom, was headed to Somerset. Somerset only happens to be about 30 mins away. They asked us several weeks ago to meet them there. My nephew Cameron was going to have his first ball game at a Christian school there in Somerset and wanted us to come watch. 

Now we normally don't go to ball games, but this was my nephew and it was all Christian schools playing so I made an exception. 

We woke up Saturday morning and I asked the kids if they wanted to go see Cameron play basketball. They were beyond excited and started looking for papers to make signs to cheer Cameron on. However, we were in a big rush and they didn't get to make their signs. 

We got to the school about 15 mins late and Cameron was already playing. My boys were so excited to be there.  At least they were more excited than Peyton, my nephew, was to be there.  He was miserable. Lol. Poor thing had to get up at an ungodly hour to get there.  Emma was extremely happy to see me and jumped in my arms. Ok. That's not true at all. Emma is not normally happy to see anyone, but her own little family. Ha ha. So what I meant to say is that I took her away from my Mom and made her sit with me and she tolerated it. 

Cameron had open heart surgery when he was a baby and it was just awesome to watch him out running back and forth on the court. Now he's in the fifth grade and doing great. 

Apparently, his little team had only been practicing for about 2 weeks for this game. It was a jr varsity game so they were teeny tiny kids. Well on their team anyway. They had to play against some pretty tall 12 and 13 yr olds. They still played their best, but didn't win. 

They had a couple hours to spare before it was time for their next game so we, along with Cameron's team, went to McDonalds for lunch. 

When we got back to the school after lunch we noticed that my kid's school van was there. Ha ha. We were busted. We hadn't been to one our school's games all year and here we were supporting another team. 

Lca was up playing a game and Josiah began cheering for his school. He could barely take the pressure. 

After LCA played it was Cameron's teams turn again. They played against even bigger kids again this time, but still couldn't win. I loved watching their coach smile at them and encourage them instead of yelling or getting frustrated. You could tell they were out there just doing their best and having fun. 

Josiah's principal walked up to him and asked if he wanted to play their next game. He said he had an extra jersey if he wanted it. He came running to me and asking if he could play.  I didn't know what to think since Josiah has just recently shown any interest at all in basketball. I figured if he was asked to play then it was up to them to teach him how real quick. Ha ha. I said sure, go ahead. He was grinning from ear to ear as he went to claim his jersey. 

Josiah claimed this was a dream come true. 

By now Cameron's team was loading up and heading out, but no way was Michelle going to leave before Josiah had his big dream come true. So this time Cameron hit the sidelines and watched Josiah play. 

Of course I had to go buy Josiah a Gatorade like all the other cool basketball players had. He stayed on the bench so long I was afraid he would have it drunk before it was his turn to shine. Lol. It was the last quarter and Michelle screamed, "they're putting him in. They're putting him in."

It's blurry, but you can see him out on the court. 

He did get his hands on the ball once. Too bad it was the other team's ball at the time. 

He ran to the basket and was going to throw it in, but the referee was blowing his whistle to get the ball back. It was too cute!!!!!

Lca ended up winning and Josiah was thrilled. They were going to play another game, but not until 3 hours later and I did not want to have to wait. Plus, Michelle and my mom were ready to head home and I knew Maynard would be home soon. I had to break the news that LCA would have to win the next one on their own. 

We said our goodbyes and Mom slipped me some money to go buy they kids a treat after we left. 

We headed home and this is what happened the whole way home. 

Titus was grieved that he didn't get to play.   His heart was broken. I hate to see Titus cry because he's not a crier and it gets to me. Soon his grief turned to anger and he told Josiah just how horrible a ball player he really was. 

We decided to meet maynard for supper at Cheddars and Josiah couldn't wait to tell him his exciting news. Maynard just laughed and was happy for him. 

Titus was still in a rotten mood until I ordered him a Monster cookie and told him it was from Mamaw. Then he was all smiles. 

All in all it was a fun day. I  thankful for the principal and the coach for allowing Josiah to play even if was only for a few minutes. Those few minutes meant the world to Josiah and helped boost his self esteem back up a notch. 

And this little guy...................

Has been role playing every little detail about what he seen at the game. Including wearing his dad's socks as knee socks.  Lol. Yesterday he had on black pants with a green striped shirt and a whistle around his neck. He must have been playing referee that day.