Junior High Wrestling

As I've mentioned before, I have a close family. Family is my number one priority. Therefore, I have become close to my cousins, Hannah and Rex.


My cousins, me (pregnant), and my sister

My cousin, I've mentioned before. She is 5 1/2 years younger than me and she has always been like a little sister. We've even had people think we were sisters! :) Now that she is getting older, our age difference is becoming less and less noticeable. I look forward to years and years of spending time together and someday, our children spending time together. :)

Our youngest cousin, on the other hand, is 10 1/2 years younger than me. And, I think it goes without saying, he is a boy. I'm about as close as I can be to him. But, I just don't think hanging out with his 25 year old, female cousin, and her baby girl is his idea of a good time...haha.

We love spending time together as a family though, as we did last Friday for my grandpa's birthday. Us grand kids played pitch while the 'adults' watched the great-grandchildren. ;) It's funny how I still don't quite think of myself as an adult at the family events...although, the 'kids table' is no longer in existence.

Anyway, I try my hardest to be a part of their lives; Heath and I both do.

Although my youngest cousins' junior high wrestling meets are usually scheduled before I get off work, we decided to take off work early for his last meet. I had to at least go to one! I wanted to watch him, as I had heard so much about it. Plus, I heard he was pretty good at it too - kickin' butt and takin' names! :) You saw him! He is taller than all of us at just 14!

I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't even know the rules. I didn't know what the ankle bands were about or the point system. It was all foreign. The only thing I did understand was the pinning and blowing of the whistle. Although I did somewhat expect the referee to hit the mat and count to ten or something...

Rex wasn't up for awhile; so, we got to watch a few other matches first. It was sad...

Since it was junior high, some of the boys looked like, well, men. They were tall, muscular, had deeper voices, and were ready to jump right into high school. Then, there were the other boys..the ones who hadn't yet hit their stride. They still had some 'baby chub' on them, not much muscle, and looked like their skin was smooth and, well, hairless. Now, you tell me, is it fair that these two wrestle?

According to my husband, "Yes - that is what they sign up for."

I watched one boy, who was obviously not matched well, except for weight alone, get his face smashed into the mat repeatedly by a kid who was probably a foot taller than him.

Sad...It broke my heart.

I know that I shouldn't feel that way; because, it is almost like I have pity for them or something. That's not how it is though. I just felt sad. It was unfair......to me. I know the weight says something totally different. And, so did all of the people there.

To be fair, this is how I've always felt about fighting - boxing, MMA, wrestling. It's just soooo personal. I hate watching somebody get physically put in their place. It's sad to watch. So, when you substitute these people for junior high boys, it only made it worse. Although, wrestling isn't at all close to the craziness of MMA!

I didn't mind watching my cousin though. He was pretty evenly matched, and he pinned his guys with some, I would guess, standard wrestling moves. There wasn't any mat, face shoving. He almost made it look easy actually. What a stud? haha. Lucy thought so too! She only clapped for my cousin, and none of his fellow school mates.

Anyway - what do you think about wrestling? Would you want your son to do it? Or, does your son already wrestle? Do you think that I am being hyper-emotional, per usual?

Finally, for my family's enjoyment, and anyone else who knows my Grandma, here is something I thought was funny. In the picture of us cousins, above, Granny is in the background talking some random guy's ear off. See below:

She cracks me up! haha.

Have a good weekend!