First a word of caution. There is a long preface to the point of my post, so please stick with me. I promise; my rambling is worth it.
So…my seven year old son is playing 6-7 year old football in the local youth league. The kids are assigned to teams based on which high school they’d attend based on where we live. Early in the HS team’s season, the “little” Wolverines got to go on the field, under the Friday night lights and get introduced. Then we stayed for the game to cheer on the varsity Wolverines. The youth team even played their Homecoming game on in the HS stadium. The highlight – doing what the big boys do – jogging out of the locker room, then rattling the wood shed before bursting out onto the field.
Needless to say, my son is enamored with the HS team and this year, I’ve been to more HS games than I ever went to in my whole life. I grew up a bit sheltered… But that’s an entirely different topic and one of the reasons I write YA. But here’s another… keep sticking with me… I promise I’ll get to it…
At the first HS game we went to this season, I found out that the star running back is the younger brother of a girl I coached in youth track some years ago. Sarah was one of my best runners and a very sweet girl. Her parents were awesome and now many years later I caught up with the mom, who said her son wanted to come check out the little kids. Sure enough – last week he came to a game. He and one of his teammates were introduced to the little guys and told them what a great game they played. (BTW – They are close friends with the family of another boy on my son’s team.)
Now to the long winded point of this story… This senior guy, who is gearing up for his last HS football (championship) game, has school, friends, a girlfriend and undoubtedly various other activities – took the time to come to the little kids’ game and then get this… wrote the little guys a letter wishing them good luck in their semi-final conference game. And it wasn’t just a paragraph – it was a WHOLE notebook page!!! It was a heartfelt, sincere letter and written by a teenage GUY! Now he’s the kind of teen guy I write about. Nice guys. Guys with heart. Guys with sincerity and generosity and sensitivity.
So when people tell me my guys aren’t acting “guyish” enough – I’ll pull out the letter and remind myself that yes – the teen guys I write about do exist and I have living proof.
Let’s go Wolverines!!!
