The Great Chase

It’s an absolutely perfect day. I’m sitting on my back porch listening to the rain fall around me. Every now and then, I can hear a roll of thunder grumbling in the distance. We have nowhere to go today and nothing we need to do. I love Sundays like this.

This is my favorite time of the year. Not because I know that Fall is approaching. It’s anyone’s guess when the heat will abate, and the burnished reds and yellows will begin to settle around us. Down here in the South, the temperature is still reaching ninety and will for a while still.

And it’s not because some of our favorite things are just around the corner. In a couple of weeks, we’ll get to take a break. We’ll hit the road and travel farther south and spend a week with friends and family doing all the things we love. And then we’ll come home and dive into October, November, December…

This is my favorite time of the year because I get to watch The Greatest Kid On The Planet do what he loves.

When he was a toddler, The Greatest Kid’s favorite game was “catch me”. His little legs would wobble, and he would laugh and motor as fast as he could until I caught up with him. And then we would do it again. And again. And again and again and again. As he grew older, he still loved to play that game, and I still chased after him even as he became faster and faster, and I caught up with him less and less. His enthusiasm for that game has never waned. It’s only grown along with him.

Today, The Greatest Kid is still playing “catch me”. But I am not the one chasing him.

The Greatest Kid was in second grade the first time he stepped onto a football field in his shoulder pads, cleats, and helmet, ready to rumble. It didn’t take long for his coaches to realize he could run like the wind, and that he loved doing it.

Even back then, the Universe knew where we were meant to go even when we didn’t. The years since have been a kaleidoscope of colors: coaches and trainers and football fields near and far, scrimmages and playoff games, a compilation of wins and losses in the scorching heat and the bitter cold. It all starts to run together in my mind, but one thing never changes. The Greatest Kid loves to run. His love for the game grows with each new season, and every year he runs faster and faster. And I sit on the sidelines, and I watch him in wonder.

The Greatest Kid never stops running. Even in the off season when he is not on the field, he is training, working, always, to be better and faster still.

When Fall rolls around, he works twice as hard, and there is barely a break. The wins and losses come and go, but the victories and disappointments are quickly replaced in his mind by excitement and anticipation for the next game, the next play, the next chance for him to chase what he loves while others chase him.

The Greatest Kid has a passion that is contagious. He believes if he can see it, he can be it. So, he just keeps running.

I’ve learn a lot from my eleven-year-old over the years. I want to be just like him.

I spent the first part of this weekend watching The Greatest Kid and his teammates take on a tough opponent. It was a hard game in the late summer heat, a three touchdown day for The Greatest Kid, and a hard fought win for them all.

Today is the Greatest Kid’s reward. Today, he gets to do whatever he wants, even if it’s nothing at all. And in a couple of days, he’ll go back to work and be ready to do it again.

My favorite thing, of all my favorite things, is to sit on the sidelines and watch The Greatest Kid On The Planet do his favorite thing. There is barely enough room in my heart to hold what I feel when I watch him. It’s not because he’s good at it, even though he is. And it’s not because his team always wins, because they don’t.

Watching The Greatest Kid On The Planet run is my favorite thing because, when I see him take off down the field, and that moment comes when he widens the gap, and I know no one will catch him, I know at that moment he is doing what he loves. And in his mind he is flying, and his heart is full.

And so is mine.

M.C. Greene

Congratulations to all of our amazing boys and incredible coaches on a 26-22 victory over a tough opponent on a grueling day. That was one for the books. Thank you, Coach Phillip and Coach Geoff for putting so much faith in The Greatest Kid and giving him the opportunity to do what he loves.

Chris Bettis, you truly are the Speed Guru. Thank you for all you do.