Saturday, August 5, 2023

8/4/23 Took A Long Break?

     Sorry for those few that followed but I just got to a point where I needed to stop writing and try a different course for a while.  The last semester of high school for Mijo was both the best and worst of times, in a sense.  I could not have asked for a better time with my boy and the adventures we went through, it was truly a fun time.  I cannot complain about anything, yes it was expensive, we probably paid for too many random meals with too many friends, and I might have even gotten in a tiny bit of trouble at work for missing more than normal, but you can't get that time back and, in the moment, it felt like the right thing to do.  I only say worst of times, because we all knew it was the last time, we were doing everything we did and that puts a sadness to things, the ending of a long journey, especially when it has been such a fun and fruitful time.

    Where to begin?  I have to finish the thought on wrestling from the last blog in February.  The wrestling season had not ended, so I didn't even get to finish that story.  Up to that point, the Bryan tournament was his best outing, with a 3rd place finish against a lot of good competition.  That was eclipsed by the district meet, as again he came in 3rd place, losing only one match again and allowing him to set his sights on trying to go all the way to state.  It was really a stressful time; he was wanting to go in and practice at 6:00am and then staying until 8:00pm or so to also get a workout in after school.  He managed to get himself into possibly the best shape of his life.  Mijo has always been a heavyset boy, but at 260, he was looking just thick and muscular, and running and competing every day, he was just a beast ready for action.  I could not be prouder of him; he was and is such a confidant guy that I was sold we would be going to the next level.  Along with him, his girlfriend also made regionals and so did a host of his friends, so to say the district meet was a glorious party and celebration is putting it lightly.  I loved seeing his close friends also qualify, meaning they all had some stake in the game, and continued practicing together.

    Regionals, however, was not the same thing.  It started great, the girlfriend won her first match, and then Mijo matched her by winning his first match, but then the wheels came off and things just fell apart.  We have an app that shows the wrestlers and how they did and slowly we saw everyone we had followed, such as the kids that came in first and second against Mijo also losing their matches.  Mijo lost his next match against a kid that didn't look threatening, he wasn't a big muscular specimen, some kids are, this kid was just very good at a couple of moves and he kept trying this one move until he got our son pinned, in one of the fastest pins, the referee did not give him half a chance to try and break free, it was heartbreaking.  What can I say?  After this, most of our wrestlers had already endured a loss, and since they were lower weights, by the time Mijo had his third match, he was about the only Cougar left, save for the heavyweight girl, who also survived her first match.

To be con't.

No comments:

Post a Comment