I Didn't Think Losing Could Hurt More- Confessions of a Footballers Mom

He walked off the field.  My son.  His head lowered, he's holding back the tears.  They lost the championship game.

I never knew losing could hurt so much, especially when I wasn't the one who was losing.

Why the pit in my stomach- it's as if I had just been punched!  I thought sports were for fun?  I don't even LIKE football.. but he wanted it so bad, so I wanted it for him.  I cheered and screamed and did my best from the sidelines, but the stars weren't aligned and it hurts more than I thought it could.

God I love that boy.  He can really drive me nuts but I have genuine pride that swells up when I look at him.  Seeing him in his uniform, he is really something special.  Someone special.  I want to get it all for him.  Everything.  The championship, and the world wrapped up in the moon.  Everything he wants.  If he wants to fly- I want that too!  But now the other team is cheering and it eats me up inside.

Of course you brush it off tomorrow and you start the new day off fresh, but how do I sleep tonight?

If I really love him I suppose I have to let him feel his own pain, or else I am robbing him of life experiences.  This is one of many steps to teaching him how to be a man, right?  It's how the real world works.  You don't always get what you want.. but you will have me cheering in the wings!

Then I realize that it isn't the getting him everything he wants that is the "gift."  The gift was the being there to share it all with him, win or lose.

Still, it is painful for me.. but I'll live to be a football mom (or a soccor mom, or a wrestling mom, or...God only knows what next) once more.  I'll walk it off  :D