We went up to the school at 8:15 this morning and gathered with a few coaches, athletes, and family members to make it official and to honor and celebrate these young men for their success and future opportunities. It was a really special time.
This is our family.... minus one, plus Coach Nelms. :) The minus one... well, this blog post is dedicated to him, the Daddy. He couldn't be there this morning because he had to work. It crushed him to miss this special moment. But you know what... not one single one of us doubted for a second (least of all Taylor) that he would have given anything to have been there. I wish he could have too. But in all truth, this was only a tiny blip in the whole story. 
This story began 19 years ago when I was HUGE with a baby boy named Taylor in my womb. Even then, Troy was praying, dreaming, and hoping for Taylor to know the kind of success that we are now seeing. When we were brand new parents, Troy took 24 hours one semester of school AND worked so that we could make ends meet to provide for this sweet baby... Troy held, rocked, sang to, bathed, changed diapers, woke in the night (ok, that was mostly my gig, but he was willing), drove to the check-ups, bought medicine at the 24 hour pharmacy, took late night drives and walked the floor with Mr. Colic. God only knows how many times he's gotten up before the sun to do "daddy things". He cuddled and happily welcomed Taylor the "night-wanderer" into our bed. Every. Single. Night. For years. He encouraged and pampered the baby's nervous and immature mama, making it much easier for her to make the transition to her dream in life - motherhood. He worked all kinds of crazy odd jobs, took risks, struggled, but kept trying... He finished his master's degree with a 3.8 while working full time and tending to his family. He coached little league, helped with flag football, little dribblers, and soccer, and even 6man football, and played for COUNTLESS hours out in the yard, throwing, kicking, catching, dribbling, and chasing balls. He aired up flat balls, kissed boo-boo's, wiped tears, and cheered, and cheered, and cheered. He has driven all over the state and 1/2 the country to watch his boy. No one knows how many tickets to games he's purchased or how many t-shirts he's bought. He's been at every game, every sport, every season, every year... after year... after year. He has spoken words of life, love, and dreams over Taylor. This part has not ended. It never will. So are we sad that he couldn't be there when Taylor signed his commitment to play college football? Yes, of course. But those few minutes hardly measure the amount of love, pride, and commitment he has in his heart for Taylor. The world groans and aches to see more daddies love their children the way that Troy has loved Taylor.
This is Tay with his Wimberley High Offensive Line Coach - Coach Saucier.
Here's Tay with his best pals, Niko and Brady. The giggling is because both of them were on their tippy-toes, trying to be taller. :D This is NOT their actual height.
Here's one last shot of us before we hugged him goodbye. We love you Taylor! Soooo proud of you! Go WarHawks!!!
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