Basketball Diaries...

When you're a mom you do things that you don't really see yourself doing and you do it proudly, but you also do it with some reluctance because it is out of your comfort zone. My latest story begins yesterday, when my oldest child was telling me about how he is having a hard time at school with some of the kids and he needed help "fitting in". At recess everyday a group of boys play basketball on the blacktop and everyday they don't let Beckett play because they think he dribbles the ball like a weirdo (his words not mine) so he asks me if we could go get a new basketball.

Well, we walk into Academy and head to the basketball aisle where I am met by 8,000 basketballs that all look the same. We looked through balls for about 15 minutes and finally settled on the Spalding NBA ball that I originally picked up I might add but was told that he needed to feel others first before he made a decision. Dude it's a basketball not pants how different can they feel?

Skip to this morning, Beckett comes in and says to me "Since I have a new basketball, now you have to teach me how to really play basketball." I of course said "absolutely sweet boy" but in my head I am thinking "Crap, teach you how to play basketball? I maybe could teach you how to watch basketball, but to do that correctly I am going to have to teach you to drink and cuss first."

About 10:00 this morning the two of us are in the driveway, tennis shoes on and sunglasses ready. I asked Beckett to show me what he knows and he proceeds to slap the daylights out of the basketball and at one point he even hits himself in the face. I knew I had gotten lucky, I could at the very least teach him to dribble the ball and keep control. After about an hour and 750,000 laps in the driveway we had dribbling mastered. I was so proud of him and we were talking while we drank some water on the porch when he says to me "Wow Mom you are pretty cool and who knew you had a clue about basketball, I figured I would have to wait for Dad to teach me next weekend."