Last Stop . . . Maryland

This past weekend we found ourselves in Lexington Park, Maryland watching Charles and the Bulldogs play in the NCAA D3 Sweet Sixteen. It took us almost six hours to get there, but we were abuzz with excitement with the thought of winning the game and then playing in the Elite Eight the following night. Since winning the championship; any game played in the NCAA could be the last for the five seniors on the team; Charles, of course, being one of them. Along with the other senior parents at every game, we were all well aware of this brutal fact. The team we faced was a power house from Virginia who we did beat last year at our home court, but lost to earlier this year at theirs.
The Elite Eight was not to be for our team. After a valiant effort, we did lose. The parents sat there stunned, at a loss for words, barely even able to console each other. We were lost deep in the thought that we just saw our boys play their last 'organized' game of basketball (organized meaning part of a serious school team). We waited in virtual silence for what seemed like an eternity for the boys to emerge from the locker room. The boys were in worse shape than we were, really not wanting to talk much about the game or anything else. No one wanted to go out to eat, or really do anything but go back to their own hotel rooms and get ready to leave for home the next day. We felt the same, with the added discomfort of having both boys now done with basketball. James had his last game a couple of weeks earlier, which was also devastatingly sad for me.
After all this time, so many years running from game to game; arranging everything about our lives around basketball, it is really like a dream, or rather a nightmare, that it's over. Such an empty feeling, such a feeling of 'what are we gonna do with all this extra time on our hands'? I guess we'll fill it up somehow.
Anyway, this sure has been a great ride. We've had more fun watching basketball over the years than I can even begin to put into words. I feel so lucky to be the mom of these two boys. Charles and James, thanks for the memories, these past years will live on and on in my heart. Whenever I hear the sound of a bouncing basketball or see young boys practicing at the courts, I will think of you two. And I sure will come watch those summer league games. Basketball is life in this house - #11 forever.