Vince's Journey

I meant to post this yesterday but I got off on a different direction which I sometimes do. Anyway, I've been thinking about some of my favorite memories of Aaron and wanted to share a few.

First, Aaron has always wanted to be good in sports. His early childhood ambition was to be an NBA player like Kobe Bryant - prior to Kobe it was Michael Jordan. But as we all know there aren't many 5'11, 140 pound players in the NBA so I don't think we'll be seeing him play against LeBron James anytime soon. Still, Aaron always tried hard on the playing field. And he always had confidence - whenever he'd talk about one of his teams he'd start by saying, "Well, they have me!", which I'm sure was meant to imply that he was definitely a huge positive. I was fortunate enough to coach him football from the 3rd to 6th grade. Back then he was even smaller in proportion to the other kids but he never backed down. He played wingback and safety and he did a great job. He always did a great job blocking on our sweep plays and I remember one game when he made a diving, shoe string tackle at safety to save a touchdown in a game we won 8-6. He always tried so hard.

One of his first ventures into sports was in soccer. He really didn't like soccer. They always stuck him in positions he didn't like and I don't think he ever thought he was very good at it. When he was 8 (in 1998) he played on a pretty good team. He was not only the youngest but the smallest kid on the team. The coach was an English guy whose son was a pretty strong player but he was Judd's age, 18 months older than Aaron. I don't think the coach knew how to use Aaron so he made him a spy - a position that really didn't exist. Aaron's job was to shadow the best player on the other team and annoy the hell out of him. Aaron didn't like this role. He said the coach made up the position because he was a bad plyer and he hated playing it. At the same time, he was actually pretty good at it, at least I thought he was. I tried to convince him of this but of course, his mind was already made up and he thought I was obviously just trying to make him feel good. During that season, Julie's brother, Dan, died after a battle with lymphoma. We were supposed to go to Chicago to see Ohio State play football on my birthday but following Dan's death, I really didn't feel like making the trip. Instead, we attended Aaron's soccer game. As I recall it was a very close game which went right down to the wire. Late in the game Aaron was playing his customary spy position and he stole the ball, kicked it to the coaches son who put it in the goal to clinch the win. It was an awesome assist. Aaron was so excited; he ran over to the coach, jumped into his arms and the coach tossed him up into the air. It's an image of him that I'll never forget. And I remember turning to Julie and saying that I was so glad we didn't go to Chicago because I would have hated to have missed that moment - it was priceless. Of course after the game, Aaron played it off like it was no big deal but it was to me. I can still see him running across the field to jump into the coaches arm - it was just an awesome moment.

As I mentioned above, Aaron was a big Michael Jordan fan. We used to watch the NBA finals together and I would root for the Bulls along with him because I knew how happy it made him when they won. We went to Chicago one summer and all Aaron wanted to do was eat at Michael Jordan's resturant. We waited 2 hours to eat but he could have cared less. He went to the gift shop and bought a Michael Jordan gift box set of trading cards which totally mesmerized him. I remember him sitting there looking at each card as if it were made of gold, 'This is so-o-o-o-o-o sweet!", I recall him saying. The dinner he ordered was basically the equivalent of a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (equivalent except the price, which was $6) but he could have cared less, he ate at Michael Jordan's Restaurant.

Aaron's also always been very sensitive. I would see him doing something cute or funny and laugh at him and he'd get so mad because I think he thought I was making fun of him. But he was always so damn cute. One day he was going through the house singing 'Frosty the Snowman' like Jimmy Durante from the Christmas special. He was probably about 4 years old and it was so damn cute that I had to laugh. Well, he got so mad that I was laughing and to this day I don't think I've ever heard him sing Frosty the Snowman again.

Realizing his sensitivity, it amazed me when Aaron did the Napolean Dynamite dance at his 8th grade variety show. He was actually the star of the show, participating in several skits. As for the dance, he had every move down and to prove it was no fluke, he reprised the dance during his freshman orientation at Moeller as part of his first house competition. He nailed it. And it really surprised me because Aaron is usually pretty cautious about letting people see him do silly things - at least until you get to know him.

This year, he took part in Kairos and was very eager to talk about his experiences with at the welcome home program following the retreat. That somewhat surprised me as well but I was proud of the fact that he was eager to share with the other boys. That has to be a very difficult thing to do when you're not used to talking about your feelings. And of course, there was his senior lacrosse season. Aaron didn't play last year so when he decided to play this year, we weren't sure he would get much playing time and that was pretty much the case. His best friend on the team quit before the season started and Aaron actually asked if he could quit but we sad no, you finish what you start. He only missed one game and one practice and that was to go on a visit to St. Louis University. He stood on the sidelines most games and cheered and supported his teammates. He never complained and despite a pretty long season, he stuck it out. It had to be tough but he stuck it out. We're not going to be able to attend his banquet due to my bike ride so I guess I'll put it in writing here that he was my favorite player on the team and even though he didn't get to play much, I enjoyed every second I got to see him on the field and was proud of the way he cheered for his teammates.

Of course, for the last 5 or 6 years he's been known by just about everyone as Headly. This spawned from a long list of nicknames which basically originated due to the fact that he had a pretty big noggin when he was a little boy. The final nickname, Headly, comes from the movie Blazing Saddles when Harvey Korman corrects everyone about his name by saying, "It's Headly!' Anyway, I truly think there are some people who think his name actually is Headly. In his 8th grade yearbook they listed his name as 'Headly Hopkins'. And to his credit, Aaron has embraced the name. He'll call home and say, "It's Headly", or he'll sign his name on cards as Headly. In April he went over to St. Louis to visit the University on a bus with about 25 other potential Bilikens. On the registration it asked if there was a preferred nickname he'd like on his name tag. I asked if he wanted me to put Headly and he said, not really. so maybe he's ready to go back to being Aaron in college.

As I've said before, I'm not looking forward to Aaron leaving for school but I'm excited for him because its a new chapter in his life. I'm hoping we can make a few more wonderful memories before he heads off to St. Louis!