Being Taught

After realizing that Josh's basketball games aren't as well attended as, say, a senior high football game would be, we took Micah to the second game of the season. We have to scope these things out in advance, because if we'd have just taken him to sit in a super crowded bleacher in a noisy gym and expected him to sit for an entire basketball game, we'd have been the craziest parents on Planet Earth. One of us would have been walking the halls with the boy to help him decompress while the other got to watch Josh play some ball. We can learn from past mistakes, yo. With tons of open seating and noise levels at moderate levels, he'd neither be distracting to those around him, nor disturbed by the chaos. Win!

Micah loves sports. He can appreciate anything that involves a good time and a ball, but the more action the better, of course. Football is his favorite, and he'll sit and watch NFL on TV for hours on end. (He's not my child.) So we knew he'd enjoy watching the game, and enjoy seeing his brother play. Double win!

We noticed right away that the opposing team had 3 times as many players as our team did. I think the boys found that intimidating, because that's the only reason I can think that they just hung back and let the opposition rule the court however they felt they wanted to. It was brutal to watch. Unless you're Micah.

Micah is a social clapper. If he hears clapping, he claps right along with it. With much enthusiasm. (His motto in life is If You're Going To Do It, Do It With All Your Heart.) We scored the first points, and cheered our boys heartily. Micah did, too. The other team scored, and their school cheered. Micah did, too. And then he looked at us, clearly puzzled because we were not clapping. Any normal person would realize that they were doing something socially unacceptable and stop.

Not my boy. Micah just turned back to the game and kept right on clapping. And he cheered every time either team had a good play, because that's what he does. Micah doesn't recognize teams. He doesn't keep score. He knows when someone gets a ball in a hoop because that's the point of the game, and he's quick to give praise where praise is needed.

Life lessons, taught by my handicapped son. I have learned many years ago that I was given Micah to parent because I have much to learn, not because I have much to teach.