Thread by @HoarseWisperer

Okay, this is going to be a bit much even by my overly sentimental mushball parental standards, so you may want to just scroll by.

My son had his first soccer game with his new travel team tonight and, oh lordt, I’m shining like a new dime.

1/

The quick setup:

After taking two years off from travel, he wanted to compete at a higher level again and tried out.

I wasn’t sure he’d make the cut but he did.

He ended up making it to the C-flight... of older kids.

2/

So, not an elite team by any stretch but way bigger and more athletic.

He’s a skinny 75 pounds. They’re all a foot taller and 50 pounds heavier.

Tonight was their opener.

3/

My son’s first game at this level in two years. His first game ever on a full field. His first game ever at 11 v 11.

He looked like he belonged there.

From whistle to whistle, the kid look like he belonged there.

4/

He was in the starting eleven.

His first shift was on defense.

He cleared balls, stopped ball movement, dribbled when he could, passed when he should.

5/

He was positioned and poised. He kept the game in front of him.

And then around ten minutes in, the kid I worried might be a overmatched at this level found himself with an opponent bearing down at him on a run toward the box...

6/

...and then my boy - the 5 pound peanut who slept in my arms his first night home - laid a perfectly clean slide tackle on him.

Thwaaaack.

All ball. Laid himself out and just shut it down.

And up there in the stands, there was me, smile a mile wide.

7/

It’s just a game. He’s just a kid. But there are few things better than being acutely, deeply proud of your kid.

There was a soccer game tonight that no one will remember. But I will.

There were 22 kids on the field. One of them was a sixth grader.

That was my boy.

8/

Before the game, I sent him a text of three things to remember.

That third one, oh, how very true.

Oh, how true.

It’s just a game, I know. But it’s also a moment and a memory and I just drink them in.

9/9