A sports writer in the making...

I went to a family cookout over the Easter weekend. It was a busy affair, as usual, with the adults catching up on the latest family news and the children running in and out of the house, enjoying themselves.

I took a moment away from the roar of the crowd, so to speak, and sat down at the dinner table and proceeded to read an article that my daughter-in-law had handed me. I had known about the article for weeks, but this was the first time I'd been able to hold it in my hand. My grandson, Jadon, who is in fourth grade, had received an "A", with an "S" attached to it (I might add)for a story he had written.

Jadon and his classmates were given a writing assignment in which they were required to compose a story that had a beginning, a middle and a conclusion. The children were required to gather their thoughts, come up with a draft of their story line, and then mold it all together into a final dramatic piece. Of course my grandson loves baseball and it was no surprise that he selected a theme on how he handled the pressure when he took the ball from his coach, headed for the mound and pitched in his first Little League game.

Surprisingly, he had his story down pat, compete with the how, the when, the where, and even why he did it. At one point in his story, he said his teammates were counting on him and that the game was riding on his shoulder. It was not only a cute story, but a good story filled with exactly what the teacher had requested: a story with a beginning, a middle and an ending.

Jadon's masterpiece reminded me of years long gone, back to a time when I sat in front of a computer and banged out a sports story that would eventually find its way to the next edition of my newspaper. I never got tired of seeing my work in print. Could it be? Do we have another sport writer in the family? Jadon just may find his way into a journalism career. That would be okay with me.

One thing is for sure, Jadon has everything ahead of him. He has his beginning, he's heading for the middle, and I can't wait til the dramatic conclusion.

Enough said, from a proud grandpa.