positive effort

Jason’s family and church want photos of him as Ramses and other ones so I was so happy to be able to send all those fun photos to them for a slideshow of him at the memorial.  It felt good to be able to do something positive for his family.

Goodbye Jason aka Ramses

I don’t know how many of you know the story but the student who plays the UNC mascot was hit this weekend walking to his hotel from a convenience store. He was with the Carolina men’s basketball team in New Jersey and suffered a freak car accident, which eventually took his life on Tuesday morning.

His name was Jason Ray and he was a senior who by all accounts was just amazing. An Eagle Scout and devout Christian with a 3.6 gpa and a job lined up after graduation - just starting his American Dream. He loved being the UNC mascot, he told people since this was his senior year he was going to just ham it up and be as crazy as he could.

Outside of just running into him at games all the time, our special connection to him was that he did Hayley’s birthday party last year. It is about time for her next birthday and it just hit us so hard. I had to tell her because all her soccer friends and parents were at the party last year - and she had a soccer game on Saturday, so I had to break the news that he was hit and very ill.

She was upset. She cried and asked a lot of questions. I told her we should pray as much as we can for God to look after him and his family. She named a stuffed animal after him and seemed down for awhile. She has a lot of questions about how and what happened. I tried to spare her the worst.

By the next day when things looked very bad, she asked if she could go to his funeral if he passed away. I didn’t want to consider that but then he did passed away on Tuesday. I knew it was coming by the things they were saying and as much as I love Carolina, his accident made me so much less concerned about the NCAA games. I always get emotional at the end of the season. I’ve been attached to the senior basketball players in some case for six years - watching them in HS and college, picking our favorites, meeting them, photos, games, autographs. The cycle has gone on for me since I was small and Hayley does it now too. The first player she ever met, ever took a photo with is graduating - Reyshawn Terry. She cried over his departure, she cried over Ramses. We just had a cry-fest for awhile over it all.

Our contact with Jason wasn’t very extensive but he was magnetic that afternoon. Hysterical, wonderful and the kids adored him. He did things in that Ramses suit I was sure I couldn’t even do in my own body. When he went down the big inflatable slide at Pump It Up, I nearly wet my pants laughing. He was the highlight of the party.

My heart is broken for his family and friends. Keep them in your prayers

Soccer girl

originally uploaded by michelle hillison.

Outdoor soccer games started again this weekend. Five seasons with the same team, so many of the girls have become her friends.

Soccer was the first activity we started her in, just two months after she arrived in our home. I was so tenative to tell people and the few that found out could not believe how bonded we were already. I was worried I was an interloper in their mother-daughter world.

Over the years but showing only recently, she has learned the joy of teamwork in a way her other sports have yet to be able to communicate. It was been wonderful to watch her out on the field this past game, trying to set up plays. She’s a great point guard and I think we are seeing the overlap now in soccer with wanting to diagram each situation. [I hope this translates to school and she wants to set up a game plan there too!]

The team played hard with the seven players who could make it. In 6v6 soccer, when you have seven and the opponent has 12, the result is usually pretty grim. However she had three lovely shots that just didn’t connect. They lose a lot but that’s ok. She takes her queues from us and if we don’t get upset, she’s fine.

I’ve take a huge step back in terms of how I act at the games. I’m quieter and more positive. I don’t push her, I can’t make her love sports like I do, I can just expose her to them as they were to me.

[And on this lovely Sunday, a hearty Tar Heels chant. Gimme a U, Gimme a N, Gimme a C... GO Heels GO!]