Creamed

The never-say-die boys
Number 17 is the love of my life
Our bench
Xavier bench

Basketball is one of Bidi's great loves. He may not excel in it, nor is he in the bottom rung of kulelats, but it is one of his great passions. His team is comprised of around ten friends and classmates who practice once a week under Coach Pat--assistant coach of the Purefoods pro team. Aside form the camaraderie and the health benefits that this weekly activity provides, It is the main source of fun in Bidi's life right now. There is much giggling, heckling, and ribbing along with the actual hard work that goes into every session.

Last Monday was their very first game against another team--the Xavier boys who are the three-year reigning champions of their division in the grade school league. The boys were so excited but no sooner had they started when it slammed right in their faces that they were simply outmatched in number, age, height, and most importantly, skill. Our boys were mostly ten-year-olds with a sprinkling of nines. Xavier had 12-year-olds, and one as tall as Yao Ming. Okay, I exaggerate; he was probably at least 5'9". And they had 20 players compared to our ten. But enough excuses; they were really good.

Coach Pat didn't warn our boys that they were up against champions so they don't walk into the game psychologically defeated. In fact, he wanted them to be beaten badly so they could learn all the lessons that come with it.

Many times I thought to myself, c'mon, let's just concede. If we leave now, we can end the agony and have an early night. That would have taught them the wrong values but it would they would have cut their losses. Believe it or not the final score was 95-23. But I must say, the boys' spirits did not waver at all, not for a moment. They fought like tigers to the last and died for that ball. I could learn a lot from these ten-year-olds. Shame on me.

After the game I asked Bidi how he felt. he said with a smile, "We were creamed, Mom! But that's okay it was fun and we'll do better next time!"

"Do you want to go somewhere special for dinner?" I asked him.

"KFC, Mom."

And so went, ordered, and sat down to dinner quietly for the first couple of minutes, like an old couple.

Then he said, "You don't like ketchup with your chicken."

"Not really. Don't want to drown the chicken taste."

"You only like it with your burger and hotdog. Plus the hotdog has to have lots of mustard."

"Wow," I said, "You remember!"

"I know these things about you," he said. "And you don't like soda."

"You don't like french fries," I told him; it was my turn.

"Yeah, I don't"

And then, out of the blue, I said, "I love you."

He replied, in a very low voice, and without once looking up from his chicken dinner. "Love you too."

Then I said, "I'm going to love whomever you love, regardless. I'm going to love whomever you choose to marry."

He looked up and said, "Huh?"

"I promise you that," I said.

"If you say so," he said before turning back to his dinner.

He is the only man in my life.