Again – Chapter 27 – JohnA Passaro
Life will hit you hard in the face,
Wait for you to get back up, Just,
So it can kick you in the stomach.
But getting the wind knocked out of you,
Is the only way to remind your lungs
How much they like the taste of air.
Sarah Kay
February 7th, 2014
The Section XI Tournament in Suffolk County is the qualifying tournament for the New York State Tournament.
It is one week away.
Going into next week’s tournament, there are two things I know: #1 – Travis has had a dream season so far and is 42-0 and #2 – Jess has bloodshot eyes, a bad cough and has extended sleep patterns.
I know that I am on a collision course between the two.
I think back to the night before the Section XI Tournament, the year Maverick won his State Championship, and I laugh.
Now.
Two years ago, while BettyJane and I were getting Jess ready for bed on the night before the Section XI Tournament, I inadvertently pulled Jess’s feeding tube out of her stomach.
BettyJane and I both stood there in disbelief as liquid seeped out of Jess’s stomach.
BettyJane and I then spent the next six hours in the Emergency Room of the hospital during one of the most severe outbreaks of influenza on record.
Donned in facial masks and making sure that we quarantined ourselves in the hallways while waiting for treatment, BettyJane and I laughed to ourselves, mostly because we just wanted to cry.
I remember getting back from the ER with Jess, just in time to take Maverick to the Section XI Tournament, where for a few seconds that night, he got to stand on the top step of the.
Expect the unexpected.
Be prepared for anything.
That is the advice one gives a wrestler heading into a major tournament.
It is the same advice I am giving myself.
Based on my experience and calculations, Jess’s bloodshot eyes and extended sleep patterns will cycle into pneumonia by Friday.
The exact day of Travis’s Section XI Tournament.
John Passaro 