Helo Holding Pattern: Dispatch #15

Not much too terribly new to report on the Helo Mom front, other than that the saga continues...

Our favorite Athlete was injured at this week's 16-team wrestling tournament and was not able to finish competing, but being the good Helo Mom, I gamely offered to shuttle the Cheerleader and one of her chums 45 minutes away to the hosting school, and proceeded to sit with them through the 10 hour ordeal (wherein the Athlete was forced to watch his teammates compete until the bitter end...each made it to the final rounds and placed in the top 3). I actually met and had a nice chat with his various family members and other team family members. This was all just fine...until the blizzard hit about an hour before we headed home on coated, windy county roads in the late-evening darkness. Thanks be to the AWD.

The boy showed off his brand new varsity jacket - 3 sports, several awards, etc. - one of his Christmas gifts. I was horrified to learn that these things now cost about $240. (I think mine was about $40 back in the day.) I had to explain the significance of the jacket to the Cheerleader on the way home, and told her the old tradition of the boys giving the jackets to their girlfriends to wear. Because she's the eldest, she was unaware of the practice and didn't think any of her friends wore their boyfriends' jackets, and besides, as she put it...in that brutally blunt and honest way she inherited from, well...someone...:

[Snort!]

Like I could wear it anyways, Mom. Have you LOOKED at him? He's a friggin' GIANT! It'd look like I was wearing his Varsity bathrobe!

The girl does have a point there...

Later on, I got his usual "permission to call" request by text,* along with this:

I thought about asking her to wear my varsity jacket, but I wasn't sure how she'd feel about it. That might be too "official" for her. What's your opinion, Mrs. [Kit]?

What's a Helo Mom to say? ("Sorry, Mr. Empire State Building, but you're too darned tall....") So I suggested that he talk to her about it in general terms, see how she responds, and take it from there....poor kid. He really is a friggin' giant. And he has an equally giant heart. For his sake, I wish it weren't quite so prominently displayed on his sleeve, but that's another dispatch for another day. Time to go dig out the car and get some diapers.

Helo Mom out.

* How considerate is this kid - he asks my permission first, each and every time he calls, to ensure that her homework is done, she's not showering, sleeping, dining, or otherwise indisposed, and that the baby's not asleep or he is not inconveniencing the family in any way. I'm thinking of telling his parents to leave him to me in their will....