Best. Day. Ever.

Today was the best day ever. Okay...maybe for the past fifteen years since Marcus's diagnosis. After six months of home instruction, he started at East High school; his first experience in general education since kindergarten. This is the end of his first three weeks. In spite of a few ripples, he has thrived. The little things were important: opening his locker on the first try, having kids run up to him to fawn over how tall he is (he's now 7 feet), girls flirting, and basketball coaches drooling. After waiting for a few days to get his now size 18 shoes delivered from online, he had his first practice yesterday. 

That leads us to today. East played Edison at Edison. He road the bus with the team wearing his cool new East uniform. When he came onto the court, I couldn't breath. They did some warm ups and got ready to play. Marcus went in after about 5 minutes. I immediately took out my camera and took pictures, quickly posting them to Facebook, Twitter, and put a short video on Vine. There he was playing on a team after only one practice.  He knew where to be on the court, watched the ball, and learned the clock. He blocked a shot. When he took his own first shot, I thought my heart would stop. No score, but that didn't stop him from trying another time. He helped two guys up who were knocked down. He did the team "go East" chant after a time out, and slapped hands with the opposing team at the end. And we won!

I never dreamed I would ever tell a story like this about Marcus. Things have been hard for so long that I think I stopped dreaming. Morris and I sat in the stands hooting and hollering at every play. We were so happy. Again, not something we have been in a long time. I have never been prouder. Marcus reminded me that I love basketball. 

This was the best day ever and we've got to savor the good ones. I shall savor this one a long time.