After watching our daughters play a combined 40 basketball games this winter, our family traveled to Marshall, Minnesota, last week for the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Collegiate Tournament. This was a finale to our basketball-filled winter and the last collegiate basketball tournament for our son, Hunter, 26, a two-year captain on the University of Arizona men鈥檚 wheelchair basketball team.
Of the many universities across the country that could bid and be awarded the national tournament our upper Midwest family felt fortunate last year when the tournament was in Wisconsin and this year in Minnesota, both drivable routes for our crew to travel.
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Our teenage daughters wished for a warmer spring break tournament location. Instead, the 300-mile drive allowed 50 family members and friends to gather for four days. From my siblings, their spouses, niece, nephews, my parents, in-laws, uncles, aunts, cousins, lifelong family friends, Hunter鈥檚 former college football coach, teammates and families all filled the stands in Marshall, Minnesota, not a spring break destination for anyone but us this year.
Together we watched one big game a day, cheering on Hunter and his Wildcat teammates and gathered at a different local restaurant daily for a shared family meal across generations.
WDAY News reporter Kevin Wallevand A runner-up finish wasn鈥檛 the final goal; a championship was. But when it all ended, and Arizona, the top seed, lost in the championship game to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, I felt disappointed for Hunter鈥檚 Arizona teammates and coach. However, I didn't feel any disappointment in the experience we shared.
For the journey traveled, I felt immense joy and gratefulness and sat on a side bleacher alone for a few minutes to reflect on the end of collegiate sports for our son. From college football to what I thought was the end of team sports after a skiing accident and spinal cord injury to having this bonus life chapter of collegiate wheelchair basketball, I chuckled at all I didn鈥檛 know and what fun it鈥檚 been to be a fan and cheerleader mom through the unexpected.
On the side bleacher after the championship game ended, I thought of the unknown we experienced just four years leaving spinal cord injury rehab in Colorado with Hunter during pandemic shutdowns to return home to the farm in North Dakota, never knowing about adaptative athletics at the University of Arizona and the role it could positively play in our son and family鈥檚 near future.
A few mornings a week, when our girls and I all manage to be in the kitchen at the same time, I read a teen girls鈥� devotional written by blogger 鈥淏oo Mama鈥� Sophie Hudson to them. They鈥檙e teenagers, so it interrupts their morning rush sometimes, and I wonder if anything I am saying connects.
Last week, Elizabeth, 16, said, 鈥淢om, the best thing you read and said to us was the lesson about 'Stay out of the future.' I just keep repeating that to myself.鈥�
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I reread the devotional on 鈥淪tay out of the future,鈥� about avoiding worrying and trying to control what the future holds. My teenager gave me a nudge of a reminder to continue to follow this wise direction.
Watching and encouraging our adult son鈥檚 journey over the past four years disciplined me to stay out of the future. His future in a wheelchair continues to surpass anything I could have planned or known as a fearful, worrying mom four years ago.
Whether it鈥檚 your family life, a specific relationship, day-to-day work, small business, farm or ranch, stay out of the future as we head into spring, a new, fresh season. I hope you experience a few wow moments in your future where you can also sit on the sidelines and be filled with joy for the journey you didn鈥檛 know but kept trusting in better tomorrows.
Pinke is the publisher and general manager of Agweek. She can be reached at kpinke@agweek.com, or connect with her on Twitter @katpinke.
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