celebrate good times - come on!

If my parents have taught me one thing it is this....
if you have something to celebrate?
You should do it.
And include some kind of ice cream if at all possible.
This past Wednesday, Jack, our 13 year old, was awarded
a plaque for an essay he had written for The Patriot Pen's competition,
a writing competition put on by the Veteran's of Foreign Wars every year.
And he was given a check for $150.
Which, for an eighth grader is like winning the lottery.
Actually, I would enjoy a good $150 check myself.
To say that Scott and I were proud would be an understatement.
Jack told me, "This is my first payment in my burgeoning writing career."
It may be since he actually knows what the word "burgeoning" means.
When I picked the boys up from school that afternoon, Addie jumped into the car and
handed me his report card, "Look, Mom! All A's and B's!"
His grin was as wide as Texas. So was mine.
All A's and B's is no small thing.
Another reason to celebrate.
Our afternoon was spent with Will, jumping over furniture in the house.
He did this because his basketball team was playing a championship game in a few hours.
And he could not contain his excitement.
But I tried to.
"Will, can you try not to break something in a weird way right before your game?"
He has a history of strange injuries.
He tried to comply.
We arrived at the game excited and of course, I was sweating, because that is what I
do when I am nervous.
I had promised Will I would try and control my loud screams during his game.
Scott's family, Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Dave and Uncle Kevin and Aunt Cheri
came to watch the game which only added to the excitement.
I was not able to keep my promise to Will.
There was some screaming of, "Help him!" and "Get that!" that flew out of me
before I could stop it.
Josh, Will's best friend, also received a few screams from me.
I like to spread the joy around.
Josh's mom,  Jenn, my BFF, is no better than me.
She likes to yell out  things like, "Uh-Oh! Uh-Oh!" and  "Good look!"
Our children try to ignore us. But we are hard to miss.
I believe it is because of our constructive yelling that
we all went on to cheer Will and Josh to victory.
They both played hard and you could tell that the whole team was working
together and putting everything they could into the game.
The joy on their faces when the buzzer went off was beautiful.
Will told us later that he was running so hard that he thought he was either going to
throw up or die.
Winning is like that sometimes.
It is not every day that you get a trophy and find out that your name will be displayed
on a banner in the junior high gym for years to come.
Wednesday was a banner day for the Aughtmon boys.
A day of high joy and a good return on hard work.
And it would not have been right not to celebrate with big dinner at In and Out Buger
with family and friends and of course, ice cream.
Have you ever tried In and Out chocolate milkshakes?
They are an ice cream treat worthy of celebrations.
There was laughter and chatter and happiness overflowing.
Life can be hard at times.
But in those moments, when triumph breaks in and hard work pays off
and you get the chance to let out a yell of delight,
I am committed to going all out, as my niece Claire would say.
So here is to more wins, more joy, more celebrations,
and definitely, more ice cream.