"Take Your Coat!"

I have a 12 year old son. His greatest desire in 4th grade was to play football. He begged us to sign him up. Football is BIG in this town. And it takes up a LOT of time. Don't plan on doing anything else once August 1 rolls around, they belong to the team then. Only my son hated football. Hated how physical it was. Hated that he was small. He would cry when I dropped him off at practice, he would beg not to go back. His father and I told him to stick with it, that it was good for him to complete something, that it would build character, that he was good at it and given the chance, he just might like it.

We ordered him a jacket, a token of being on a team, being a part of something bigger. All the boys had one. We ordered it in an adult size small, the smallest size available. It swam on him. He never played football after that one season, but the jacket has remained. Out the door he goes as I yell from the top of the stairs "Take your coat!" He could bring any coat from his closet and that would suffice. He brings this one. He dutifully takes it everywhere he goes. It is his constant friend and his loyal companion. Sometimes I feel bad that he has to hang around and wait while my son goes off to tackle the day's adventure. It'd be nice if he'd wear it once in a while!