This weekend was the best wrestling my oldest son has ever done, and that’s saying something since we’ve been doing this with him for over six years. This wasn’t his first time in a double elimination tournament, but it was his first time in those six years placing high enough to actually stand on the podium. I couldn’t help but cry as his name was called and he climbed to the fifth place position. Holy cow, out of fifteen boys in his bracket he took fifth place, and some of those matches had required overtime struggles to get there. What an achievement! Then I noticed they only gave medals to the top three finishers.

I turned to my husband. “Where’s our son’s medal?”

“They only give medals to the top three kids in JV,” he said as if I should have known this.

Of course I didn’t know that—our son had never placed so high before. I swallow back the disappointment when I saw my son turn a beaming smile my direction. He obviously didn’t need the medal to know he’d finally bested all those years of pain and defeat. Instead, I took a picture, so we’ll both never forget. Good thing medals aren’t the only way to remember an accomplishment.