Basketball Anyone?

I don't know why, but I woke up in the middle of the night and one of the 3 million things I started thinking about was the hundreds of basketball games at the local YMCA I'd been to over the years to watch our sons play. They were both good in their own right but in completely different ways.

Terry and I spend most Saturday or Sunday afternoons watching him or Mark play. We met a lot of nice people. We also met a lot of people that didn't like how aggressive Matt played, especially it they were parents of kids on the other team.

Matt had a passion for basketball during those years. That was before he started to drive and all of that aggressive energy and intensity had to go somewhere. He went all out, running hard, bumping hard, giving and getting fouls, never afraid of the other guy or to take a shot. He wasn't the all time scorer but his coaches knew how to use him to shut down the other team.

He used to challenge me, Mark, and Terry to pick up games or horse in the driveway. He always outplayed all of us, although Mark could give him a run for his money. I never had a chance though. I was reluctant because I knew I wasn't going to win but I always had fun anyway. The constant chatter, challange, and kidding.

In recent years we always played a game or two over the Thanksgiving holiday either before or during our deep fried turkey preparation (something Matt insisted on a few years ago and even went out and bought the deep frier). It had become something of a tradition.

I dont know if we will attempt it this year or not, but I know we will all miss it and we are all thankful, even in the midst of all of this, that we had those times with Matt and can replay them in our heads (and yes, I can actually wim those versions!)