Rite of Passage
Our 5 year old, Jackson, filled out his first NCAA bracket yesterday. I carved out an hour to amke sure I got to do it with him, before I headed to the airport. Truth is, he writes slow and was insistent on filling out every bracket himself, so we got about 60% done before I had to leave (or miss my flight).
So, right after I got through security at the airport, my phone rang and Jack wanted to do the rest of the bracket over the phone. I talked to him until I was instructed to turn my phone off on the plane working through most of the rest of his sheet. The highlights:
-He always wanted to know who I picked…He matched mine 80% of the time, but got this cool grin when he decided to go a different direction.
-He caught on to the 1-16 rankings and used them…at least as much as I use them!
-He tended to pick familiar names (like states he had been to) and teams known just by letters, which caused some consternation on UCLA vs. VCU.
-He’s getting in the family pool that my brother runs…Good luck reading his writing, Ben!
-His has an appetite to learn like no one I’ve ever met. We could have done it for 3 hours becuase he wanted to talk about everything!
It was a great day. I’m so proud…
BTW, My Final Four teams are Louisville, Memphis, Villanova, North Carolina…Kind of sad as a huge Big 10 fan.
.Real.Greg.Lee. 
That is so cool that Jack get’s to do this with you. I’ve never heard of anyone this young completing brackets and liking it. I did not do a bracket until my 20’s! I can’t wait to do this with Anthony in a few years. I decided that this year we would learn to run the base paths. We did this last weekend and it was amazing. Can you believe after my first daughter I wanted another little girl? God knew what I needed because he gave me one of each. I love them the same… Of course my daughter was running the base paths too. What a great age.
Sorry, Greg…I probably should get a blog of my own. I should call it Narcissistic Chairs.
haha awesome.
I almost had Nova in my final four as well.
The real question is, what is Jackson’s Final Four picks? =)
tim
Wake Forest, UConn, Pitt, and Oklahoma…that’s what I have.
I had to smile while reading this…John & Nick still look forward to March Madness every year. Lots of friendly banter & I love to listen to them. Oh, the fun you will have over the years!
You don’t know me, but I’ve started following you since I was told about your posts from the Amazing 80. I pastor a small church south of Muncie and am getting to know some of the Harvest folks pretty well. I’ve been ‘lurking’ on here since the beginning of your journey to Liberia.
I’m also a former student of John Wasem’s while I was at Emmanuel. And he has continued to help me after I left school. I owe quite a bit to him and his family.
I also spent Wednesday evening going through bracket picks with my children. My almost-seven year old daughter chose her selections based on their mascots – and she has West Virginia, Butler, Pitt, and UConn in the Final Four, with UConn winning the championship over Butler. My son essentially chose the higher seed to win each game: Carolina, Pitt, Louisville, and UConn in the Final Four. Carolina over Louisville in the championship game.
Mine? Louisville, Villanova, Missouri, Oklahoma. I’m glad to see you picked Nova. I thought I was the only one who had picked them to go that far!
This comment has gotten much longer than I intended, but I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know I’m praying for you and your ministry!
that’s cool about the connections with Harvest and John Wasem. thanks for reading!
I have Louisville taking it all–but echo your sentiments about the Big 10. These are some fun games to watch!