I wish I had a picture

Excitement, anticipation, joy, pride, frustration, exhaustion, and sadness: I saw all this in my son's face today.

Soccer playoffs began for his league. He has been looking forward to Saturday since Monday. As he approached the field this morning, there was a tentative swagger in his step. Knowing he held the position of high scorer placed a small level of pressure on his growing shoulders. What would today bring? They would have to lose twice on order to be eliminated. Their first game was a 1-0 win. My little man did his job. Now they were on to game two of the day.

Again, he took his position. He fought hard even with a shadow from the other team. His footwork amazed me as he dribbled circles around the other team on his way down the field. He was pushed around and spent a great deal of time on the ground. He bounced back up though, and played strong to the end. In the third quarter, my little man broke a 0-0 tie as he deftly placed the ball in the net to score in a PK. A win over this first place team was in sight, but the ball made it into our net two times in the final minutes for a final score of 2-1, them. My little man broke down. My heart broke as well as I held him, encouraged him, and challenged him to continue to play strong in the next game.

He will try again tomorrow. To make it to the championship, his team will have to win three games back to back. I wonder how these little guys will hold up. They have proven themselves well over the season. I am impressed with what they have learned. Their coaches are great encouragers and have taught them well. My little man is an awesome soccer player. I love to watch him play. I would be ecstatic if they were able to make it far in this tournament. We will have to wait and see.

I have pictures in my mind of my son's intensity and emotion displayed in his games today. You will just have to trust me on this.