Last Soccer Game (almost)

Today was suppose to be Josh's last soccer game. On the way over, I prepped Josh to have the best game of his career. I sent him to the field with visions of glory, victory and kicking the ball.  This was his first game that wasn't freezing cold and I was psyched up. As I was walking to his field, I noticed that the bugs were out in force.  No big deal I thought. I'll just keep my mouth closed and life will be great.  I made it to the sideline as the game was getting ready to start.  Josh was starting and was on the field as they kicked off.  I turned my head to greet the coaches wife and when I turned back, Josh was no where near the ball.  Both teams were on one side of the field battling it out by the goal while Josh was on the other side of the field, going one on 50 with a swarm of bugs.  This went on for a few minutes until our team made a goal.  They all started cheering and Josh was momentarily distracted enough to run over and line up for kick off again.  Unfortunately that was as long as it lasted.  By the time the ball was kicked, Josh was already off trying to capture the bugs that had surrounded him again.  That was pretty much how the rest of the game went.  His team played, and he tried to catch bugs. The coaches wife saw my distress and attempted to comfort me by saying that this was her son's 3rd year and that he's improved every year.  She said that during his first year, he acted just like Josh and now look how good he's doing.  I didn't have the guts to tell her that this was Josh's 3rd year too.  I just smiled and nodded as I tried to convince myself that Josh was doing better than he was his first year.  I mean, at least now he knows what a goalie guard is and what he's suppose to do as a forward.  He doesn't always do it, but at least he knows.  As the game ended I released the tension from my body and almost let a smile cross my face. As I was trying to quickly usher Josh off to the car I heard the coach announce "Don't forget that we have a make up game Tuesday at 6:15pm.  We'll see you there!" My shoulders slumped as Josh repeated the message to me. We were so close...