Sad Afternoon

Yesterday afternoon I was with the Heritage High School Cross Country Team at the regional meet in Cartersville Gerogia. I was standing with the love of my life-Amy, our good friends Joe Thacker and Jim and Beth Bennett. Our oldest son, Trevor and their sons Jacob and Caleb have ran cross country together since the 6th grade. They have ran in the state championship meet the first three years of their high school career.

At the region meet the top 4 teams advance to state and the top 8 individuals runners go as well. Unfortunately the Generals missed 4th place by only 9 points. The place that each of the teams top 5 runners finishes is an individual score that is added to form the team score. (The first place runner gets 1 point for their team, the 54th runner gets 54 points for their team). The lowest score wins.

As we, parents were standing around after the awards ceremony announced our boys would not be making a trip to the state meet for their senior year-it finally sank in-this was the end of another era in our families.

We would never see these three friends run again on the same team.

It really was sad as we stood there on that crisp fall day and watched some boys celebrate and our boys shocked and dismayed.

I walked over to the guys and tried to console them by reminding them that three of the teams that beat them were new competitors to us due to the realigned regions in Georgia. Obviously my timing was bad because Trevor looked at me and said "Dad, don't talk to me right now." I gave him his space and Amy, Chipper (who ran very well too) and I headed home.

Trevor rode the bus home with the team and when he got home he walked over to me where I was lying on the couch, he bent down and hugged me and said, "Dad, I'm sorry for the way I talked to you-I was just upset." I told him I understood and not to worry about it.

Most of the boys, Trevor included, complained about running cross country all through middle school and high school. They said they were running only to keep them in shape for soccer (their first love). But now that it was shockingly over without that last trip to the state tournament-I think they realized that they had actually become runners-and loved it.

We wish the Lady Generals all the best as they go get to go to state (they finished 2nd in the region) and to the other teams representing our region. I already miss watching Lauren running and now will miss Trevor. We still have Chipper for 3 more years!!! (And, yes-he says he hates running too!-I will definately enjoy those last 3 years!)