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FROM ONE ATHLETE TO ANOTHER
Our granddaughter’s playing soccer again…she’s the goalie on her team
and in some ways as I watch her…it’s like I’m reliving a dream….
You see I grew up thinking I was an athlete…what other conclusion could I draw…
when I looked into the mirror…an athlete was who I saw.
But my recollections of my career in sports are anything but athletic…
In fact the best word to describe them…I imagine is pathetic.
For my athletic career, unfortunately, had an abbreviated run…
apparently it’s a long way from thinking you’re an athlete to actually being one.
I tried my luck at baseball…but in hindsight I have to admit
it’s not easy to play baseball if you can’t catch a ball…or hit.
So I tried my luck at wrestling…I thought for wrestling I had a knack
until I spent my entire wrestling career…lying on my back.
Next I turned to football…which from the beginning was a mismatch…
because I did not like getting hit….and even that bigger ball…I could not catch.
I do have one great memory from my career in sports, however…even though as an athlete I was bad…it was when I looked up into the stands and, looking back, I’d see my mom and dad.
When I struck out, when I got pinned, when I dropped the ball…Mom and Dad still found a way to cheer….
They would smile and wave to me…as if I was the athlete of the year
For it didn’t matter how I did as long as I gave it my best…
and as long as I had fun…my parents were impressed.
I realized it wasn’t how good or bad I was…whether I ever achieved athletic fortune or fame…my parents were proud not for how I did…but for how I played the game.
Which is why when I watch Ava play…it’s only my granddaughter out there I see…
and win or lose if she did her best…
if she had fun…
that will always be good enough for me.
