Spencer, Micah and Basketball

Nine years ago we found out we would be adding identical twins to our family of three boys. We joked about having our basketball team. When we discovered they were boys, it seemed inevitable. Micah and Spencer were born and we thought they had the perfect hands for it- big palm, long fingers. Such long fingers. Despite their prematurity, we had hope for that basketball team.  Eight days after our twins were born though, Spencer let us know his time here was done. As we gathered round his incubator, I looked down, and the little blanket wrapped around his bed was basketballs. Our little basketball team that hadn’t even had a chance to play yet…

Micah stayed sick for a long time, and then slowly improved, until the point they were willing to send him home on oxygen, with a NG (feeding) tube, and lots of meds. It became obvious that this little team member was going to be our honorary cheerleader instead of the star player his hands indicated he might be….

8 years later- Micah won 4 tickets to a Utah Jazz game from his school. We weren’t sure how Micah would handle it (public places usually aren’t his happiest places), but felt like since he was the reason we got them, he needed to come with us. So we prayed that he would enjoy himself, that it wouldn’t be a disaster, and then went fully expecting to leave after the first quarter. We didn’t leave until the fourth quarter (and then only to avoid traffic) because he absolutely loved it! He laughed and giggled and shrieked with joy. He squirmed and wiggled and made every single person around him smile because it was obvious he was having soooo much fun.

So this past Christmas, remembering that, we decided to give him tickets to a couple basketball games. The first one was this past Saturday- one week before his birthday. I prayed again- that the first time wasn’t a fluke. That he would enjoy it. That going would be a happy thing for him.  and it was. He was every bit as crazy giggly off his rocker about it as the first time. 

I cannot describe to you how much joy that gave me. There are so few things we can do with Micah above and beyond our ordinary everyday interaction,- so few things to give him, or do with him that he truly loves- that to have this opportunity, to be able to give that to him. There were no words. And so that night as I prayed, I thanked Heavenly Father for that joy, for that experience we were able to give Micah, for the happiness and enjoyment he was able to have. And as I prayed, the knowledge flowed into me that It wasn’t just the lights and the sounds that gave Micah joy- but it was the fact that it was basketball- (and the lights and sounds) because love of basketball is something that he and Spencer share, that Spencer was probably there with him, and that it is something they look forward to doing when they are together again. (and they might even let their dad play with them).

That understanding came, and I sobbed. Even now I am crying as I type this, because I have one son whose spirit is in Heaven, and one whose spirit is trapped in an imperfect body. They are unable to tell me about basketball, so God did for them. To be given such a gift, to catch a glimpse of who they are and the relationship they share; how kind our Heavenly Father is.

I know in the eternal scheme of things basketball doesn’t really matter. But for this momma heart, today -coming up on their ninth birthday- basketball suddenly means a whole lot more.