Finally

My mom and dad have attended a lot of high school basketball games. At least 800, but probably more. They followed 8 kids all over the state of Idaho in snow and rain and on icy roads. They sat on hundreds of hard bleachers, yelled thousands of encouraging words, endured many a horrible referee and only got tossed out of a handful of games {dad!}. They watched us win, they watched us lose. They saw school records broken, MVP awards won, district championships clinched and even a state championship final. When it comes to high school basketball, they've pretty much seen it all. Except one thing. They never watched one of their kids win the ultimate prize, a state championship... well, that is, until TODAY!!

Today my siblings and I lived our dream vicariously through our baby brother, No. 8, our last hope, Marky Mark, when his team won the 2A State Championship against all odds. I couldn't be there to cheer, to call the referees names, to jump up and down and celebrate with my family, but I was there in spirit. I'm so proud of Mark. Not only is he a great athlete, he's an even better person and an awesome little brother. I'm so thrilled that he could experience this game as a senior, in his last basketball game. And I'm happy for my parents too. Not because they care whether we win or lose. But because all they want is for their kids to be happy. And I know that today, all 8 of us were very, very happy.

{photo and article here}

{Mark Beus #5}