My boys love dodgeball. I guess they get it from John. Although, once while playing dodgeball in grade school, I was the last one out. I think I was too short for the others to hit.
But notice I said, "once." After that it was back to being the last one picked for a team and like all other sports, it ended up on the bottom of my enjoyment meter. But unlike some other sports, I found a way to cheat in this detested game, making gym class and recess a little more bearable. It was one of those deep secrets that one never tells. However, the other day I felt that it was time to confess this to my children, to get it in the open, to heal, to ask for forgiveness, and to go on.
My confession came about something like this:
Andrew and Jesse were discussing the weekly dodgeball games at church and hypothetically about people who habitually cheat by pretending to leave the court when out, but then sneaking around and returning to the game illegally.
Feeling the guilt returning, and knowing it was time to end the years of psychotic illness due to my unresolved sin, I blurted out, "I used to cheat in dodgeball, too."
Silence. Stares by my loving children who couldn't dream of their mother cheating in anything. So I continued,
"Yeah, I never liked to play the game so as soon as it started and as soon as the balls started flying, I'd just find an opportune time amidst the bedlam to walk off the court, pretending I'd been hit and had to leave the game."
They were dumb-struck. They saw a new side of me. Andrew, needing clarification, summed it up like this, "You mean you cheated so you could LEAVE the game?" And then drumming up all the compassion he could muster said, "You should write a blog about this."
So I am.
Do you think I should tell my children that when they were younger I used to cheat in CandyLand so that THEY would win and the game could finally come to an end? Nah, they can probably only deal with this kind of news a little at a time. Better to let them digest the dodgeball situation first.
No comments:
Post a Comment