Blink, and you’ll miss it

Freshmen football is a rollercoaster ride, up one minute and down the next.

The SLUH freshmen are on the downswing, suffering another big loss at the hands of the CBC Cadets. 42-7 was the final score, and even I got that wrong.

Besides updating the game on the Twitter feed, I was doing a pretty good job of keeping up my end of a riveting conversation with friends and fellow SLUH parents Dave and Ann Larson. We were chatting about things such as parish fall festivals, Dave’s travel schedule for his job and Ann’s mid-game jog to check out the CBC campus.

Oh yeah, there was a game going on, too, and every time I looked up CBC had things wrapped up and seemingly headed for the endzone. I looked up and did my usual visual scan for jersey No. 15, and never saw it on the field.

When the scoreboard buzzer sounded, I began rehearsing my “Hang in there, Jack” speech for the car ride home.

It wasn’t until I saw photographer Nancy Winkelmann after the game and I said, “Too bad he didn’t get in the game.”

“He got in,” she said. “Didn’t you see it?”

See what?

His mother, apparently, missed the last kickoff return of the game and No. 15 on the field on the side nearest the bleachers.

Instead of the “hang in there” speech I started rehearsing the “pretend-like-I-saw-it” speech, followed by the “way-to-go” soliliquy and the “atta-boy” address.

The reality is I didn’t do any of that. He’s 14. He really didn’t want to talk on the way home. All I said was “I’m sorry I missed your play” and “What do you want for dinner?”

That was enough for him, but I was kicking myself. I blinked, and I missed it.

He has four years ahead of him in high school. This football season will be over in a heartbeat, and it will be followed by his first set of high school exams, his freshman retreat in the winter and his first freshman formal in the spring.

Beyond that, he’ll have more games to play, more classes to take, more mixers to attend, more friends to make, more opportunities to grow into a fine young man, a man for others.

Blink, and you’ll miss it.