Day 319- "Were you really..."

The tallest human being in JR. High?"

Graham has probably heard me make that reference ten times during his lifetime. The truth is I think there may have been one teacher taller than me and that was it.

Thankfully he thinks it is really cool, considering he will likely have the same experience.

It never really was that big of a deal. I played a ton of sports where being tall was an asset, my whole family was tall, and like I tell people, being a physical freak of nature helped me develop my sparkling personality.

I was also lucky enough to have two other friends who not only excelled at sports, but were also over achievers in the early growth department.  I think we were each at least 6 feet tall by 7th grade.

We were referred to as The Redwoods.

To this day I am not sure what teacher gave us this name, but we loved it.  It branded us as something special.

One of my nephews is experiencing something similar. There is no denying when you look at him, the first thought is "linebacker".

He has had a rough time in school, trying to figure out where he fits in and all. The football coach / science teacher has recently taken an interested in him.

Upon meeting my nephew he said, "son have you ever thought of playing football?". His response was "I have never thrown a football in my life"

The coached just laughed and said,"only one person throws the football, and that is never going to be you."

Ever since then, my non football playing nephew has been doing better in school, and practicing with the football team.

I have always felt that being an athlete saved my life. Not that I was dying or anything, but playing sports simply made me feel good. Made being a 6 foot tall 7th grader something special.

It looks like the same thing is starting to happen for my nephew.

And all it took was a teacher, reaching out to a different kid, to make a difference.








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