Milestones

This weekend, Logan had his first chess tournament. The first of many to come, I hope. He had five matches, and went 1-4. The record doesn't matter though. The fact he wanted to go, and saw it through to the medal ceremony was huge to me. But something else happened there, that while I knew he could do it, and had been doing it, that I got to see for the first time.

Six years ago, Logan started at Step by Step Academy. He was a much different child back then. Not very verbal, very aggressive, and didn't show any kind of affection. Basically, in his own world. After getting on virtually every single waitlist we could find, We finally got accepted by Step by Step. Melissa worked tirelessly to get him in somewhere, so we could try and get him out of his world, and begin the move to ours.

Over the years, so many people have worked with him, got him to open up, and generally get him to the point he's at today. They deserve so much of the credit of allowing him to be in a regular school, as they helped him, and us, achieve that goal.

What I saw, getting back to the first paragraph, was him wanting to go outside to play. The tournament was at a church on the east side. Outside the room that was set aside for his school's team, was a playset with a slide, rope, swing, etc. There was some time between his last match and the medal ceremony. He wanted to go out and play. I watched him for a bit. Watching him run around, playing tag, and just chasing other kids (as well as being chased), almost made me cry. Just to watch him do that, made everything that we did at SBSA worth it. That few minutes watching him play was some of the most amazing minutes of my life.

He's one awesome kid, and I'm humbled to be his father and dad. I'm sure Melissa was smiling down as well, and would be as proud, if not prouder, than I am of him.

I love you, Logan....