2ND PLACE AND CACTUS THORNS

A couple of weeks ago my 5 year old nephew, Jordan, had his first dirt bike race. I'm so proud of him. I've never had the guts to enter any races (unless you count that one time in 3rd grade when I thought I was fast and asked to run in the field day race and came in dead last, but we won't count that time). 

Here is Jordan inspecting his beast.

 

And this is where the race was located. I know. It SUCKS!

Lorina and Joshua played games while we waited for the race to start.

 And Lokie was trying to be a tough boy barking at the other dogs.

 

We made a sweet friend while we were there :)

 And right before the race started I was overcome with nervousness. But doesn't Jordan look like a boss in all of his gear?!

The race started. There were four boys racing together and Jordan started off in first place. Until he got to the first turn. Then it was a mess from there. David had to chase him through the entire racing path because Jordan kept crashing and falling off his bike. We couldn't see the entire path because of the way it's all laid out. We watched the boys come through the exit about 2, sometimes 3 times each. But still, no Jordan. And we waited. And we worried as women often do. And then we see Jordan and David coming through the end of the path. And Jordan falls in front of us. I run to him and he seems frustrated. He starts taking off his gloves and they're covered in cactus thorns. I help him take a few of the thorns out. I yell at David to get Jordan's helmet off of him. I look into Jordan's eyes and I see embarrassment. And I start bawling, like a baby. I hate to see him hurt. I notice all the cactus thorns on the side of his little body and I'm angry and sad. Jordan tells us he's done with this race and we go back to the trailer. I help him get his gear off and he pulls out the last few thorns on his own. No tears in sight. I ask him if he had fun and to my surprise he says yes. Then he asks me when he will get his trophy. I couldn't be more proud of this resilient kid.

There was only Jordan and one other kid that were in the 6 year old class so Jordan officially took home 2nd place. It may not be obvious in the photos below but Jordan was so excited and proud of himself. He wore that medal for days after he won it. And boy, did he earn it :)