Joshua's first win in Football

Last night was a great night for us. I am sorry I do not have pictures, but this is a blog, right?

Joshua's games are on Thursday nights. Problem for me since I usually have Stake Presidency meetings on Thursdays. I have missed most of the games. At first, Joshua was not playing a lot, but now he was put on the line as a tight end and really started to get into that position. He won a starting position this week and did a good job. Well, his poor little team had not been winning too many games, so we are learning lots of lessons from losing. We would rather not have to learn those lessons too many times, but really it was starting to get on the boys from the team. Joshua continued to say how much he loved it, though.

Well- he got the late game and I got out of meetings early enough to get there in the 2nd quarter. His team was down 6-0 and it was not looking good again as both teams were stopping eachother and it did not look like there would be a way to win it. Joshua's team, the Maulers, really took over in the 2nd half though and actually controlled the ball the entire 3rd quarter. In the 4th, the team drove down to the opponents 20 yard line, only to fumble the ball. The Mauler defense took it to them, however and got that ball back without allowing a 1st down.

With only 2 minutes left, they had to dig deep to get into the endzone. They had only scored one other TD ALL YEAR, so they looked like it could be another disappointing night. Thankfully, they did pull it together and drove to the endzone with 40 seconds left. The converted the extra point try to go up 7-6. They held their ground after the ensuing kickoff and won their first game of the season.

After the game (all of the parents were going nuts, so happy to not have the "let's be good sports, and winning isn't everything' speeches again") we went over to congratulate the team and Joshua- who had contributed to the victory. They won. They tasted victory. They felt what it was like to get a win under their belt and deserve it. Joshua had the most amazing look on his face. It was a mixture of joy, relieved frustration, exhaustion and pride all at the same time. We are very close and I could almost feel what he was feeling. He looked up at me and he just said -"we did it". His eyes welled up with tears and he just cryed for joy. It was definitely one of those moments that I will treasure forever. We connected. We bonded and it was all I could do to keep from crying myself. The history of the world will never remember the night the Maulers beat the Pouncers on a fall evening in Gallup- but we will remember. If it had happened on the first night of the season- it would not have meant as much. If it had happened early in the game, it would not have meant that much. But it was all aligned in such a way to have a great life moment for a 9 year old boy. I love sports for exactly that reason. A little microcosm of life lessons.