For all you Seniors

(I posted this the first time in 2015 and meant to post it last week, but it still has the same impact and meaning, this is for you)

This is my favorite time of year...High School Football starts tonight and remember watching Corey who started playing in 1st grade and is now playing college ball, I couldn't help but sit down and jot down these words yesterday on the eve of the High School Football season. This is dedicated to all those boys who have fulfilled their dreams of playing under the Friday Night Lights.

From a Dream to Reality

6 years old and you just got knocked down by a kid you never met before. You fight back the tears because you know it's how you learn. That kid that knocked you down through the next 12 years will be your best friend, your brother and most important, your teammate. That was your first ever football practice.

You and your new found best friend along with many of your new found friends and teammates will play football at recess and after school in an empty field with a nerf ball until it's time to go to practice when Dad gets off work and mom packs you up in the car and off you go.

You and your "brothers" eat sleep and dream about the greatest sport ever. On Friday nights You and your friends can't wait to go to the local high schools football game and root on your favorite team and favorite players who in your eyes are bigger than life. You can always be found behind the end zone tossing a little tiny football you caught when the cheerleaders threw them out to the fans in the stands. You proclaim to your friends that you are your favorite high school football player on your favorite team as you catch a pass from your best friend who claims to be the high schools starting QB. At 10 years old, life is good but you dream of the night that it is you playing under those bright lights and you become more determined to practice and play even harder in your pee wee league just so you can one day fulfill that dream.

7 - 8 years pass and what seemed like an eternity to get there you now realize how fast the time has gone. You look to your left and your right to the 2 kids your holding hands with. Your best friend is on your left, your other good friend is on your right. you've been teammates with each other for the past 11 years and it finally hits you as you strap on that helmet for your final season ever of football. From that little kid who got knocked on his butt his first day ever playing football you are now about to run through that tunnel of cheerleaders onto your field of dreams with that very kid who not only put you on the ground 11 years ago but extended his hand to you to help you up and has since became your fellow warrior in this game and your brother in life and best friend ever.

As you run out onto that playing field for the start of your last year ever playing the game you love, you spy out of the corner of your eye a couple 9 and 10 year olds pressed up against the fence, eyes as wide as saucers, looking up at you as though you are their hero. It has come full circle. You have fulfilled your dream of playing on Friday nights and at the same time have started that burning desire and dream in the hearts of those kids at the fence who now look up to you, you the player who in their eyes is bigger than life.

Tomorrow boys starts the realization of dreams by many of you. Enjoy this. Enjoy the greatest game on earth. Enjoy your time under the Friday Night Lights. For you seniors, Enjoy High School Football one last time. Leave it all out in the field and remember that little kid you once were and know that there will be more like you looking up at you this weekend and dreaming of the day they can run in your shoes.

High School Football. It doesn't get any better than this!