Field Day

On Friday, we held our annual Middle School Field Day.  The night before, as JT and I were reviewing the weekend’s events, I mentioned the coming day.  He began to reminisce about how much he loved the annual Field Day, which happened every year in the closing weeks of school.  As his 15th (and final!)  year at our school has begun to close out, JT has had plenty of memories to sort through.  Many have been happy, but none have been as joyous as remembering Field Day.

To say that JT loved Field Day is an understatement.  Over the years, the two things he always loved about school were recess and Gym class. In Field Day, he found an entire day devoted to those two things.  It was JT-heaven.  He planned for the day with the precision of General Eisenhower organizing D-Day.

He’d bring sunscreen, a lunch, and a small cooler filled with ice, water bottles, and his yearly bottle of Gatorade.  We’re an over-heating people, so JT’s cooler also had wet paper towels, carefully folded, slipped into ziplock bags, and laid on the ice.  Preparation for Field Day was a precision operation.   He went with generous  supplies.

He returned at the end of the day bathed in dirt and sweat, as happy as a boy could possibly be.

T’s last Field Day was in 8th grade; these days he goes to Tough Mudder races with his friends.  And he heads off to those with a carefully packed gym bag and a precision plan.

The signs were there all along.