"It's Gotta End Sometime."

When Cal quit basketball his junior year it was a tough on all of us.  We didn't blame him for ending his high school career early, we were just so disappointed in his coach and his treatment of Cal that forced that decision.  When I went to school the next day, Mr. Voirol came to find me.  He was supportive of Cal and said to me, "It's gotta end sometime, and very few athletes have it end on a positive note."  I thought about his words many times over the years.  He was correct, very few athletes even professional ones end under the perfect circumstances.  Peyton Manning exiting football winning the Super Bowl was not the norm.  A career ending injury, a loss in the first round of sectionals, a missed putt or an unsupportive coach was what most athletes faced at the end of their time on field.

Thus, Cal's last game was not the one that I chose to remember him playing.  It was instead the last game of his freshmen year when he played considerable minutes in the junior varsity game against Tippy Valley.  They were running plays for him and he was an important member of the team.  His one shining moment happened that day and I wished for him that it could have been his last memory of a beloved sport.

Brett did no participate in sports after his fifth grade year, but he was part of the Academic Super Bowl team and drama club in middle and high school.  When I try to think back on his last role in a high school production I really don't remember much about it.  Instead I tend to focus on his earlier role as Joe Scales in "Cheaper by The Dozen." The part seemed to be written for him and he completely stole the show that night.  It would have been the perfect way to end his drama career just as winning state his sophomore year on the social studies team would have been as well.

Meg and Cam will soon end their time as soccer players.  In the past couple of weeks I realized that I wished that Meg's season would have ended earlier this month at the South Bend Riley game.  Meg played very well scoring the first goal of that game on a beautiful fifteen yard shot.  She had been part of a celebration before the game honoring her favorite teacher at Bethany.  There was such a positivity about that night that it would have made for the perfect ending to a fourteen year career.  I felt the same on Tuesday night at Goshen.  During that game Cam contained their best player well and even got a turn in goal.  I could hear his coach yelling from the sidelines, "Cameron Heinisch that was awesome!"  Even though it was a loss, it felt like a win and would have been an fantastic way to end his career on the field.  Regardless of how it does happen, however, both will finish their time as soccer players soon.  I hope that it will be the ending that they have dreamed of and not just something to endure the way that Cal had to in his.  Either way, I know that "it's gotta end sometime."