The "Agony of Defeat"

As I listen to the wind whip outside I can't help but parallel it's blowing to the winds that have been blowing in our lives over the past couple of weeks.

Last night was one of the most heart wrenching losses that I have had to experience with one of my children. Dallin took second place in state wrestling. Those who have experience with high school wrestling would look at this win as an unusual and an amazing accomplishment for a high school freshman, but when you understand that taking this title has been something that Dallin has dreamed about and been preparing mentally and physically for for several years you can see why this loss was so heartbreaking. He even spent his hard earned money from pipe moving on wrestling mats to put in our basement and practices on them almost daily with his brothers in addition to his wrestling practices at school. To see this dream ripped out from underneath him has been so hard because is all it took was 6 minutes of not being mentally prepared and making stupid mistakes on his part to have it all taken away. He was ranked #1 in the state and he had beat his final competitor the last 4 times they had wrestled. Dallin was by far the better wrestler. Dallin knew it and the kid that won knew it. That is what has made this such a devastating loss.

We understand that there is a much bigger picture to life and life is not just about high school sports, but it still doesn't take away the pain and growing experiences that we will go through as we experience this “agony of defeat”. This pain is unavoidable if you have put your heart and soul into something.

Last nights loss was just one more blow to the already stormy weather that has been blowing in our lives for the past couple of weeks. After all of our trials over the past couple of weeks, we were really hoping for them to end with a State Championship title for Dallin that he has worked so hard for.

The winds starting blowing on us about two weeks ago when our heater went out at the store, then the computer, then we had major electrical problems, and to end the week we were robbed at the store. The week after that started out with Spencer being admitted to Primary Children's hospital and being diagnosed with Type I diabetes, Tuesday Enoch was in a skiing accident and his still suffering from a concussion, Wednesday Ben came home sick with the flu, and Friday we got a phone call from one of our tenants because they had got a reduction in pay and could no longer afford to pay full rent, and then we ended Saturday with the State Wrestling Competition.

We have learned, and are still learning much through these experiences. Now that we have had a month from “hell” we are hoping that we can look forward to March proves to be a less stressful month.