WARNING: This week's post is basically one long #mombrag, complete with photos and video clips. I know, I know, I'm becoming "that mom" — Don't hate, just roll with it.
Last week marked the start of a new school year — the last for my youngest (If you missed that post, here’s the link: The Last of the Firsts). It also marked the start of the high school football season.
Technically, the first game was played on the Saturday before school started, but it was an away game and a day game, to boot, so I’m not counting it. The first home game was played last Friday night — the last ‘first’ Friday Night Lights game of my son’s high school career.
Friday Night Lights is challenging for me for a variety of reasons: the hour, the crowds, the bleachers, … I could go on, but rather than repeat myself, I’m simply reposting last year’s Friday Night Lights: Tales From The Bleachers because, really, this post is still spot on. Read it and then feel free to send me my Mom of the Year award for all the extroverting I endured and will endure again this season (a true feat for a socially anxious introvert — #ifykyk).
But despite this blog being (mostly) about me, Friday Night Lights isn’t — it’s about my kid, and this year is special for a number of reasons.
The first, and biggest, is the fact that it’s O’s senior year, which means it’s his last year of high school football. This kid loves football and always has, but he almost didn’t play in high school. After a rough middle school experience, he was ready to hang up his helmet. At the last minute, he changed his mind and it’s made all the difference in his confidence (on and off the field).
He’s also one of the five team captains this year. He’s the quiet leader to his counterparts’ louder, more vocal personas, but it works. They balance each other out and it’s bonded them even further.
Before the season even started, O sweated it out at practice and team camp, day in and day out. He’s been all-in for months, and the icing on the pre-season cake was the team’s first college-style media day. Armed with props, the boys got to show some personality and pose with swagger, just like their collegiate counterparts. Here are a few of my favorite pics of O, courtesy of Katherine Azar Photography:
So far, the team is 1-1. Not bad, but not great. On a personal note (because after all, this blog is my personal diary), O is off to a solid start, with lots of catches, yards, interceptions, and even some media recognition. This catch is from last Friday night:
As I wrote in last year’s post, O’s excitement for the game and his confidence on the field is contagious enough to make me push through my social anxiety and make it to all his games — even if it means dealing with crowds, enduring the inevitable bleacher-induced ass cramp, and staying out past my bedtime. After all, I’m his biggest fan.
So be prepare for lots of shameless #mombrags, photos, and videos over the coming weeks on my IG and FB pages (@laurendeweytarr), and if you’re looking for me on a Friday night for the next two months, you know where I’ll be … Under the lights, cheering on my boy (#3), and doing my best to avoid (most) other parents.
— LJDT
