Deacon’s first year of wrestling came to an end last weekend with the Rhode Island Varsity State Championship. To say I am proud of him and his team would be a huge understatement. Now I’m new to this wrestling thing. I went to one match in high school and lasted maybe 5 minutes and I had to leave. I don’t like it….at all. However, it’s not about me. It’s about my baby boy and I had to go and support him. I watched him wrestle once this season in person. I nearly vomited.

I had to psych myself up for this. It was going to be one, maybe two depending on how well he did, days of wrestling matches. Nerves. I took my own car just so I could be alone with my thoughts as I tried to keep myself level and prepare for what I was going to have to watch. If you know me, I don’t like anyone touching my kids. Not even my kids horsing around with each other. Nope. Keep your damn hands to yourselves. This was going to be hard.

Now I know NOTHING about wrestling. Nothing about the moves, the point system, or what is legal and what is not. What I do know now, is that when I hold my breath for a minute and a half I nearly pass out, and see spots. There are three periods, 1:30 each. A minute 30 is like eons! After the first match I had to make sure I didn’t hold my breath. I nearly fainted 5 times the first day of matches. Another thing I know now is that if I scream like a lunatic mom…I get light-headed. Seeing your son in a choke hold makes you want to run out onto a mat and throat-punch a poor unsuspecting child (no, I didn’t do that, calm down). Needless to say, this sport is not for me.

My baby is tiny. He is only 62 pounds and the lowest weight class they have is 70. That’s a big difference in my book. But you know what, he did AWESOME!! On the first day, he won 2, lost one (yeah, he got choked and I’m the one still recovering). With those stats, he was invited back for the next day. I had to go back again and watch all this….I know, it’s not about me. He won his first match and it was a good match. I almost threw up, luckily I skipped breakfast. It lasted too long for me. The second match…he put up a good fight but lost in points. Then we had to wait for the last match. The one that would decide if he got 5th or 6th. Deacon and I paced around the lobby waiting to find out who he would be wrestling. He came up to me with this look on his face and I knew it wasn’t good. His next opponent was the kid who choked him. Now we both felt sick.

This time, he lasted a while longer. He managed to get out of the choke hold twice. It took a lot of control for me not to scream “Kick his ass!” I didn’t want to be THAT parent. He got a few points and lasted well into the second period, but in the end, the other kid got him. So 6th place! 6th place out of a group of 15, most of which were actually 70 pounds. He did amazing! I am so proud of him. His school took 2nd place. At the end of the day he needed a nice epsom salt bath and mama needed a cocktail.

I was proud of myself for not actually vomiting, but as we were sitting there up in the bleachers someone did. I’m so happy it wasn’t me!