Our Boy of Fall

Unless you haven’t been reading this blog, you know that every Monday night this fall, Hunter has a junior high football game. It has become our late chaotic afternoon routine to get to his 5PM game. My Monday work day gets condensed and crammed to get out the door to pick up the girls and thankfully I have been able to limit my travel schedule to be home every Monday night. Nathan goes to work even earlier than usual on Mondays and goes back again after the kids are in bed to make the road trip to and from weekly games work with his schedule. But we wouldn’t change the chaos for anything. It is a wonderfully fun way to spend each Monday together cheering on our boy.

In case you missed yesterday’s GriggsDakota update from my mom, Hunter also lived up to his name and had a successful first youth deer hunt this past weekend. 

He is our boy of Fall.

 Our boy of Fall doesn’t just play football. 

Of course there is nightly homework and studying.

This morning he needs to be at school just before 7:30M for play practice in which 40 plus kids grades 7-12 are participating in an one-act play. In our small prairie town, grades K-12 are all in one school building with grades 7-12 in one wing separate from the elementary. Junior high kids are often in the same activities as the high school kids like the school play… and even the Homecoming Dance this Friday night is one event. Gulp. We are not so sure Hunter is going yet as I am having flashbacks to moments of myself at junior high only dances which were enough to scar me. Is it really necessary to put junior high kids with high school kids and share a Homecoming Dance? I’ll quit going down this bunny trail and save it for another day. But if you are with me on this, I need some parental support and input.

 Our boy of Fall is also practicing a couple days a week on his trumpet and he will march with the band in the Homecoming Parade Friday afternoon. 

Each morning he also gets up early to practice piano and today he has his weekly lesson during school hours. His piano teacher comes to the school and figures out a break in each student’s schedule and has their lesson during that time. Tuesdays are Hunter’s day when he has a quick thirty minutes that he is not in band or a class and could have a study hall but instead takes piano lessons. He is preparing for his fourth Fall piano festival in mid-November. 

 But our boy of Fall’s favorite activity is most definitely on the football field.

Last night our Mustangs came away with another win. This week it was against the LaMoure Lobos with a final score of…30-8. 

And our boy of Fall was happy.

Pointing at the sun, this week he wanted to make sure you all knew that he indeed needs that tough black paint on his face because it is sunny (and was 75 degrees at game time last night!) or as we refer to it on the prairie, Indian Summer, at least for a few days. The black paint is needed not just to look cool and tough but indeed to keep the warm, bright sun out of his blue eyes.

I. want. to. slow. down. time. and. always. remember. moments. like. last. night. with. our. boy. of. Fall.

If I could I would just box up last night to save our memories and reopen them in 20 years to relive a fun family football night together. 

Or maybe I would pause it for a moment, rewind and play it again to remember.

But I cannot.

So instead I take pictures and blog to remember our boy of Fall.