the end of a thing

The rain is falling from a dark sky.  I'm home alone save for my dog of course.  Everybody is at work except me.  That's not all the way true because I do a lot of my work at home: editing photos, creating sequences for yoga classes, and planning out private yoga sessions.  And always the normal housework and chores that happen in any house so even when I'm not AT work, chances are, I am working.

It was an emotional weekend and just today feels like life is back.  Emotional because after 9 years of wrestling, our youngest son wrestled his last and final match.  He participated in our state tournament which was huge this year, 2500 participants.  He earned 7th place.

His final match was a doozy, for him, for us, for his coaches...mostly for him. So emotional.  He won the match but for a second after the final whistle he took a knee and just processed the moment.  The finality of it.  It was a moment heavy with the culmination of 9 years of practices, of tournaments, of blood and sweat, of heart, of passion, of determination. 

I wish is could put into words what wrestling has meant for this one.  Last year, when we sat in Seattle Children's Hospital with the prognosis of Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (an extra electrical pathway in the heart that causes rapid heartbeat) hanging in the air, it was the thought that this could keep him from wrestling that bothered him most.  

Wrestling has given him a foot forward in life, in leadership skills, in tenacity, in inner strength.  And now he turns the page, leaving this behind and moving forward, always moving forward.  But it still hurts, the end of a thing.  The next chapter for him is working more, saving money, turning 18, and graduating high school.  It's a lot.  And it is happening fast.

In just six weeks we are taking our family vacation to Hawaii and we are all looking forward to being able to take some time to just BE.  To decompress.  To breathe.  To rest.  To play.  To be together.  It comes at the perfect time in so many ways.

I could go on but I think it's time to close.  I'm going to sneak some banana bread into the oven and get a soup simmering on the stove to stave off this dreary rain.

Until next time!