I have written about my boy Austin many times. You just didn't know it. Up until now I have always called him one of my "spare sons"; well, he really is much more than that to me. Austin is one of my oldest son Thomas' best friends and has been for as long as I can remember. Before his Mother passed away last year she was not too involved in his life (maybe an okay thing) and although his Dad has done a great job in raising him, he is a rough and tumble old school biker type (and also a dear friend of ours). Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm married to one myself! So, needless to say, I find myself working very hard to fill in the "maternal love" gaps with him.
On this blog I am very careful about protecting the identity of those around me, especially of those I love dearly, like Austin. But, this last weekend my boy came home with two, yes two gold medals!!! And I have been wanting to shout about it from the rooftops! I mean this kid can run. The gold medals were in two relay races so he helped bring home eight gold medals to Platte Canyon High School. This also means that we are going to Regionals this coming weekend and probably headed to State the following weekend.
At the ripe old age of seventeen (just turned on Monday) he came through the door holding his medals and I attacked the poor kid! The tiny smile of pride I saw pass across his face before I hugged him tighter than the kid had been hugged in years was something I will never forget. Don't worry, the crimson color faded almost as fast as it had arrived!
When Thomas asked for his permission for me to blog about him, his response was "Cool". He knows how much he means to me, because I make that clear to him each and every time he comes here, which is often, blessedly. I also know that when he chose to spend Mother's Day with me, that was my gift. He had asked Thomas earlier in the week, so I knew it was going to be a weird day for him. He had said that I acted like I was his Mom, so yeah cool, he could probably spend the day with us. Yeah, that is pretty cool. My son the gold medalist, I like it!
3 comments:
What a touching tribute! I knew Austin was a great kid and I knew that he was part of your family, but I didn't know that he had lost his mom.
That's such a touching story, Judy... I'm speechless.
I always thought Austin was pretty awesome too! (-;
Here's a virtual hug from me to him on a job well done. He should be proud of himself for being able to focus on the task at hand, the race, and being able to win. It does take focus on knowing your body well enough and how to pace it and then push it to succeed and win. So great job Austin.
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