He did it!

I suppose last night's events in Pakistan will be debated for years to come, but in our family we have a victory no one needs to debate.  You see, some times when a person does what he thought was way beyond his ability, it needs to be celebrated.

Our youngest boy likes football.  But crowds?  Social situations? Being noticed? Anything where people don't follow the rules?  Well, those are a lot tougher for him.  But after a lot of advice and treatment and thought, we signed him up for a six-week flag football league which began yesterday.

Low-pressure, everyone plays, no yelling coaches.  All tailor-made for our boy.

But he was completely overwhelmed.  It took two parents to get his cleats on.  Two parents to help him walk into the stadium. Two parents who kept asking, "Did we do the right thing?"

Then we had our answer:

A game where our boy was told exactly what to do each play by a very encouraging and low-key coach. And our boy did everything his coach suggested.  He hiked the ball.  He carried the ball. He made two fourth-down "flag steals" to stop the other team's touchdowns.  A final score of 6-6.

Afterward, he said he liked it a little bit and will go back next Sunday.  And this morning when I saw him studying his schedule and talking about how many times he will play each team, I believed him.  

P.S. Next week I promise to have Checkered's entire head in the picture.