About one month ago, our oldest son, whom I affectionately call “Son Number One,” asked me a puzzling question.
“Mom, what is courtwarming?”
I let him know that I had never heard of courtwarming and wanted to know why he needed a definition.
“Today, I found out that I am a candidate for courtwarming. I believe the student body voted, and they selected eight boys and eight girls to be on this courtwarming.” He spoke with little enthusiasm.
“It sounds like a dance to me, like homecoming but I will call the school tomorrow,” I said.
Since my son is a high school freshman, and we are new to this district, neither he nor I had any idea of this courtwarming or what exactly it meant to be nominated.
By the end of the next school day, I sat him down and went over what I had found out earlier.
I explained to him that courtwarming was the winter dance. That the student body did nominate students whom they thought would represent the school well as either King or Queen, and the winner would be determined the night of the dance that Friday after a final vote was tallied.
All he heard was “dance”!
He made it clear in a loud voice, “I don’t want to go to a dance. I have basketball games on Friday night. How can I get out of this?”
Son Number One is not like his mother, who tried her best to be elected to homecoming or prom court, to no avail.
His mother would have loved to be nominated and, maybe, yes, maybe even crowned Queen.
No, this son is into sports, sports sports. Not frills, and certainly not dances!
I assured him after his game was over he could just go to the dance until they announced the winner and then the whole thing would be over.
He went on to tell me how that day at school several people told him that only seniors win, so he did not have to worry. They also said that it was an honor to be selected King. “Do they win a basketball?” he jokingly asked.
Well, the courtwarming night arrived, and I, the proud parent, dusted him off after the game. I assured him we would return to get him promptly at 11 p.m. By 10:30, my phone was ringing with him on the other end, saying, “Guess what? I won. I was voted King.
Somehow, in his journey down the aisle to accept his crown, he realized how special it was to first be nominated by your peers, to be the first freshman to ever win the King title and, finally, to make a historic mark as the first African American to be crowned King. Now, that’s a story for the grandchildren.
Sometimes we make the best impact when we are just being ourselves.
Thanks for sharing.