in a not-so-perfect world

In a perfect world there would be no sports on Sunday.

There would be nothing happening to take us away from the things we should be doing and feeling.

But I guess that wouldn't work either. Then we'd have nothing to prove. No sacrifices to make.

In a perfect world, Ty would be playing his all time favorite sport. Hockey. He's not. It just does not work for our family. It's too much money, too much time commitment, and too many Sunday's.

But we've found the next best thing. Ball hockey! It runs for three months in the spring. It's twice a week. It is pretty much perfect. A hockey "fix".

To say that Ty loves it and looks forward to this short season would be a gigantic understatement.

This last weekend was the final playoffs. Ty's team made the final. On Saturday they lost in a shoot-out after a  heart-wrenching, gut twisting game. The loss made the series 2-2.

The final game was on Sunday.

Last year it was just known that "we don't play hockey on Sunday". There was no questions asked. He just knew he was not going to play and that. was. that.

This year he was desperate to play in the final. He also won an award which was to be presented after the game. On Sunday.

Saturday was a long day of Ty begging and us "just saying no". We reminded him of our reasons for keeping Sunday a holy day. A day of rest. A day devoted to our Father in Heaven and the Savior. One day out of seven.

"But I won't be blessed for keeping the Sabbath day holy if I'm only doing it because you're forcing me to."

He was totally right! (and so old and mature.... seriously, the best kid ever).

I talked to Dan's mom about it. She raised 5 boys. Her advice: "If I could do it again, I'd let my kids choose for themselves". As soon as she said it I knew.

I knew Ty was old enough to choose for himself. Dan and I sat him down Saturday night and told him the choice was his whether he would play the hockey game or not. We layed it on him pretty thick, made sure he knew how we felt, how we'd feel if he chose to play. Talked a lot about free agency and sacrifice and all the things that he already knew. We asked him to pray about it and told him we were confident he'd make the right choice. Dan and I sure prayed hard for him that night too!

In a perfect world, my son would not play hockey on Sunday.

He chose to play.

It was hard for Dan and I. It was hard for him too. As he packed his equipment in the van, and continued getting ready for church, he would not look us in the eye. He listened to the talk in church about grace. He whispered to Dan "why does it feel like he's talking to me?". Dan told him he was talking to him.... maybe this was the answer to his prayer...

After the first two hours of church Ty found Dan and Dan drove him to his hockey game.

They won 7-0. Ty won an award for the most accurate shot. He won $45 in gift certificates for other awards. He got a picture with "the cup".

That evening when we had dinner and it was his turn to tell his best part of the day this is what Ty said:

"I will never choose to play a sport on a Sunday again. It just felt wrong to be there and I know I made the wrong choice."

Maybe it's a perfect world after all........