While standing on the sidelines of the semifinal game of the Park City Extreme soccer tournament my son Ace was playing in, I heard a loud gasp behind me. It was my oldest son, Anderson. He looked like he’d seen a unicorn.
It might as well have been because, as rare as seeing a mythical creature is seeing a professional soccer player at your younger brother's soccer game.
Caught in Anderson's gaze across the field from us was Real Salt Lake superstar Javier Morales.
As it turned out, the quick, skillful player on the opposing team sporting the number 11 was his son.
I'll admit, much like Anderson, I was starstruck. Not only that, I was a little worried Ace would play a team a professional soccer player deemed good enough for his son to play on.
Surely, this game would be a battle to the finish.
It was.
By halftime, we were tied, and I kept finding myself looking across the field where Javier Morales was standing, wondering what his reactions would be.
For some reason, I figured a professional soccer player would react differently to calls than us “normal” types. Perhaps he would step in and have a talk with the coach for not subbing correctly, have a word or two with the ref for missing fouls, or yell at players or his son for making tactical errors.
From my side of the field, I was waiting for a celebrity reaction and was sure it would happen as the two teams continued to battle.
There was nothing of the sort.
What I saw from Morales was the same thing I was experiencing with my husband, who was sitting next to me: a father watching his son play soccer, cheering him on and hoping for the best.
I won't tell you how the game ended up — I will keep you guessing on that.
What I will tell you is, when my sons wanted a picture with Morales after the game, I saw a proud little boy sporting a jersey with the same number as his dad standing just feet away from us. Right then, I knew this moment was not about my boys being at the same place as a professional athlete. Instead, it was about two dads being able to share a moment, watching their sons play soccer.
I couldn't help but snap a photo that said just that.
Arianne Brown is a mother of seven young children, and she loves hearing and sharing stories. For more of her writings, search “A Mother’s Write” on Facebook. She can be contacted at ariannebrown1@gmail.com. Twitter: A_Mothers_Write