Volleyball Senior Night tonight.
Do I bring a cry towel? It's only in the quiet moments when I think about it that I'm vulnerable. At the games, I'm too busy to dwell.
But there will be a ceremony. Haven't been on this side of it before. In my youth, on the ascent, everything was about the future, no point in mourning the past, greater things lay ahead.
And, yes, greater things lie ahead for Dash; new and rich things lie ahead for Leigh and me, but they'll be mostly different, not necessarily greater.
This is a focused celebration of an end. An end of something special for Dash, and for us. The end of a level of togetherness.
The parenting partnership goes on forever, of course. The "sports parenting" partnership is kind of an accelerated view of the parenting partnership, but with more explicit milestones.
From parent-driven to self-driven, from scared and tentative, to feeling confident and owning it.
I'm proud of him, of course, but mostly, more deeply, I feel a joy in the arc of his journey. He has had a wealth of extraordinary moments in this sport that don't erase but hopefully transcend the many early struggles.
The arc of a life is more obscure, but I hope this experience inspires him in his moments of future struggle and that it provides proof that there is always hope.
In any case, these moments will always be his. And ours.
update: I was fine.
https://ucvolley.com/senior