Friday night… will go down in history… as one of the favorite nights of my life… right up there with the Christmas Eve when we came out of Church to find it snowing… right up there with the Christmas Eve when we went to Midnight Mass and came home to find that Santa Claus had visited while we were gone…
Yes… Friday night definitely was a Christmas Eve kind of night… as I attended Lawrence County High School’s… Red-White basketball games… essentially this is the intra-squad skirmish games which mark the official opening to the season… which would be fun… but hardly Christmas Eve worthy… except that this year… there was a star player for the varsity White team… Cade Jones…
Cade is a very special seventeen year old… he plays football… golf… soccer… and other sports… all on the Special Olympics teams… but last night… he was a starter on his high school varsity shoot ball team… something he’s wanted to do for a long time…
He was the last player introduced to the crowd… and his entrance to his WWE hero Randy Orton’s theme song… would have made Randy pale in comparison… Cade owned the crowd… fans were on their feet… demonstrating their enthusiasm for his appearance…
Once the game started… I was impressed by the players… both Red and White… who made certain that this was an evening that Cade would always remember… his teammates… especially Chip… consistently passed the ball to him when it was time to shoot… at first he missed a few… but then his streak began… and he went on to score 19 points for the Whites… it may have helped that the Red team backed off and didn’t try to block his shots… although… one of his best friends… Trey… gave the appearance that he was trying to keep Cade from shooting… but he always allowed Cade to out maneuver him… of course… Cade will not realize that… he also won’t realize that the referees didn’t call his miss-dribbling or walking… he didn’t even seem to mind that in the final seconds… the Whites lost by a few points… because as the buzzer sounded… Cade rejoined his teammates on the floor… and got to shoot one more time… and that he will always remember…
What I will always remember… and be grateful for… is… Coach Shane Childress… and his willingness to make Cade’s dream come true… a community which has embraced Cade from the day he was born with Down Syndrome… the finest group of athletes I could ever hope to know who truly delighted in having Cade be one of the team and willingly gave him the spotlight… his parents Steve and Dewanna who always see his potential rather than his disability… his Mim Cindy who gives of herself so easily to him… his entire family who always make him feel special and loved… and mostly… I am grateful that I get to be his great-aunt… and that I will have many more opportunities to witness the joy and delight in his face as he accomplishes one more goal…
Jane…
And special thanks to Andy Bradford for the pictures… seems I forgot to take any…
Oh… and if you wondered what… Bertha… had to say… well… she was too hoarse from cheering to say much at all…
What a great Christmas story, Jane. It is an angel story. I just had to look up and give thanks! Guess it’s a Thanksgiving story, too! It is so refreshing to hear about the good people in this country that seem to get lost in all the horror going on today. Thank you for sharing this moment in time of true love!
Mary… I agree… Christmas… Thanksgiving… Angels… it was all of that. I am truly grateful for my family and community… and you!