Ryan was accepted to BYU recently. He applied to the University of Oregon, Oregon State, University of Utah and BYU. If BYU had not accepted him, he would have chose Utah. The Oregon school were safety schools for the safety school.
Mentally, I think he is kind of done with high school. None of our kids have been to class in a school facility since mid March 2020. He has been able to participate with the high school ski team in an abbreviated season (as has Jack) which has been very good for him I think. Today he found out that he made the Varsity Beaverton Soccer Team, which is good. But I might be more excited for it than he is. He said he is glad he made it, but it he would also like to start earning some money for college and being on the team means that his availability is limited.
I totally get that, but I am a little wilted inside. It means he is getting old and will fly away soon. He is a fairly responsible teenager, even if he has had a fairly easy life compared to other kids. I think my teen years were much more difficult than his, but I don't throw that in his face. I am grateful that he has been able to make his "work" school and the various sports and other activities we have encouraged. Until Covid, he was someone that was busy almost every day. Some days he had two practices or activities. I know that some nights he was up pretty late getting stuff done during the school year.
Perhaps, I will revise what I said earlier--I think our kids have been able to focus on different things than what I had to focus on growing up--it is not that they have it easier. I would like to think that they have been able to explore more things that what Bridget and I were able to explore when we were teenagers. But I know Ryan has had plenty of stress.
Ryan will not be playing sports in high school after soccer. There is supposed to be an abbreviated track season after soccer is done (I think it will be in April and May) but he said he will not participate. He isn't sure what the format will be and what he has heard made him decide that he will just pass.
I am sad that he will miss out on activities like Prom and joys of being a senior on campus. Ryan has handled it all pretty well. He sits in his little downstairs room at his desk, which is adjacent to his bed, and he does his school work, reads, and sleeps. Often he only comes up to eat. Our dog stays with him quite a bit though.
He has a group of friends that communicate all of the time. They play games online together and I think he has strength from that. I am grateful for these friends. They are kids that seem like they are driven to do good things and go places. They seem to be scattering across the country at the close of high school. They will be going to MIT, the Ivy League, California, and to schools east of the Mississippi. Ryan is the only one of his core group going to BYU or Utah. Perhaps a couple will go to Oregon universities. I think they will keep in contact more than many groups of high school friends, but it is hard to say.
Anyway, this morning when reading the email that he was accepted to the Varsity squad made me a wander down through my memories. It is so true, time flies. It seems it was just a few seasons that I was walking around the fields in the cold when he practiced with his club teams in the winter or waiting in the car for 90 minutes because I didn't want to drive back home and waste gas. I remember driving him to soccer and then to baseball. I loved it for the most part. Not sure he always did. He practiced in the rain, sleet and snow. I never had to do that. I think he knows he can do difficult things as a result of his youth sporting career.
I admit that I think I am more excited than perhaps he is he is playing soccer one last season. Selfishly, I want to enjoy watching him, or at least hear about this last season if we cannot spectate. I don't feel like I have gotten a proper send off to my child's exit into adulthood because of the pandemic and the limitations resulting. After all of the work Bridget and I have done to help him with the sports that he loved I would just like to enjoy one more season. I am hoping that this last season is memorable in a good way for this kid, who for each of his first three years of high school was named his teams "Mr. Beaver" for his on and off the field excellence, and that it will bring him fond memories in future years. And yes, I just want to enjoy watching him and his occasional fury of passion on the field one more time because I enjoy it so damn much.
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