A Forever Moment

B1 gave Bruce and me one of the best moments of our lives this week. I'm sure there are many more to come, but this one will remain close in our hearts forever.

Thursday night, she had a basketball game and her team played against Carlyle, who supposedly had not lost since they were in 6th grade (and are now in 8th grade). B1's coach expected it to be a blow-out and for her to be able to get all of her players a decent amount of playing time. But at the end of the first quarter, the score was tied 16-16. It was close at halftime as well and as the 2nd half progressed, it became apparant that we might actually be able to beat them. Now, B1 does not start. If you remember, she didn't even make the team in 7th grade, so we were just thrilled when she made it this year. She got a decent amount of playing time in the first and second games of the season and (according to Bruce, who would DEFINITELY say so if he felt she played poorly) played well. But since then (about 4 games) she hadn't seen much court time at all (maybe 5 minutes total). Anyway, the game was very physical and eventually 3 of our players fouled out. When the 3rd player fouled out, the coach went to B1 and pretty much pulled her by the shirt to go into the game (why do basketball coaches do that? :-) There was exactly one minute left in the game and B1 had not been in at all yet. The score was tied 45-45. So, she and the other girls played well, not allowing Carlyle to score. The trouble was that we hadn't gotten much of a chance to score either and the clock was ticking away. But then we got a rebound on their end and B1 was almost all the way down the court, under our basket. One of her friends passed her the ball from just a little closer than half court and at this point, B1 was standing on the block. She got the ball, turned and shot. It was basically a layup type of shot, only she wasn't running into it. The ball bounced one time somewhere up on the rim area (just a little bounce) and then.....fell through. I watched this happen and then immediately looked at the clock. 1.6 seconds left! Oh My GOD! I know my mouth fell open, Bruce stood up and walked down the bleachers to watch the rest of the game standing up, my dad grabbed the railing in front of him and pumped his fist, my mom just looked at me with an expression I can't even describe, and another mom in front of me turned around and went to give me a high 5. I didn't give a high 5; instead, I threw my arms around her and began crying a little. Then I hugged my mom and by this time, I was shaking and crying. I couldn't believe it. The gym went nuts, and all for my little girl and her teammates! It was surreal! The students were screaming for her and other parents we have known for a long time were looking to us with huge smiles. It was amazing. The other coach called a time-out and then it was their turn to inbound the ball under our basket. B1 was the player all the way at the other end of the gym (now under their basket) in order to try to stop any long pass or shot. Bruce was leaning over the railing screaming at her "nobody gets behind you!!!!!" They did get a shot off from farther out than half court, but it didn't come anywhere close to going in. Their girls cried and ours jumped for joy. Our coach had been going crazy all game and was doing so even more now! It was so cool!

We then went down to the gym floor and waited for the players to come out. Witnessing everyone hugging my daughter and saying such nice things to her made me smile and made my heart swell. She too was smiling from ear to ear. One man said to me "and it couldn't have happened to a nicer person." That really made me feel proud, knowing that he knows B1 and thinks that about her. The comments she received were genuine and heartfelt. That one minute on the clock will last forever with me in my mind and in my heart!