That's My Boy

Joey finished his amazing football season last weekend by defeating not one, but two previously undefeated teams in the Jr. Rosebowl Tournament in Orange County. The Hawaii State Champions and the Torrance Panthers both fell to the mighty Rebels in intense competition (followed by much deserved revelry at Knotts Berry Farm). Congratulations, Rebels, what a season!

However, this post is not about Joey. It is about Sam.

Jay took both boys to Orange County for this tournament weekend while I stayed close to home with the little ones, also making sure Lindsey got to sing with her choir at the creche festival (which was lovely, by the way).

On Saturday morning, Joey had to be at the field for weigh in at 6:30 am. The game began at 8am. Jay dropped Joey off and took Sam for breakfast, spending the last of his cash. Jay called me about 7:30 frantic because his ATM card wasn't working for some reason and he needed cash to get into the game. We spent the next hour and a half on the phone with Bank of America trying to get it sorted out and then with American Express trying to get emergency cash so Jay wouldn't miss the game. Jay and Sam went from place to place, with instruction from American Express, to find a Western Union that would open before 10am. It was incredibly frustrating for Jay, as various places told American Express they would be open and then when he arrived they were closed.

Finally, at about 8:30 I remembered that grandma had given Sam $20 for his good report card just before he left. I told Jay to ask him if he had it on him.

Jay said, "Sam, do you have $20?"
"Yeah."
"Are you kidding?"
"No. Why?"

All Jay and I could do was laugh, because Sam was totally unaware during all of this that Jay only needed $8 to get in the game and that he had the means to solve the problem in his pants pocket the entire time. Our incredibly bright, straight A student has so little awareness of what is going on around him sometimes that it can be nothing but totally endearing. That's our Sam, and I couldn't love him more.