A very nice boy

I think all of our kids are amazing. But this story is about Abram. He has been wrestling for his middle school as the varsity 120-pound guy. This was hard for me to take at first. At Skyline High School in Salt Lake, wrestling was not a cool sport. It was much cooler to be in the concert choir or jazz band than it was to wrestle. But I finally understand what a great sport wrestling is, and why it is so big up here.

There is a 6th grade JV boy on the team who was born without full legs or arms. He has 2 very short legs (about 10 inches below his hips) with no feet, and one arm to the elbow, and then another arm that was sort of re-constructed to give him a few functional fingers. This kid can run faster than almost anyone. He is not afraid to get out on the mat and wrestle. His attitude about life is incredible. He knows he is a normal kid inside, so he doesn't let his body stop him. It is very cute to see him hop up onto the back of his dad's motorcyle after wrestling and take off.

Most of the kids at school ignore this kid. Nobody teases him or is mean, it's just that people are a little afraid of him. Abram noticed this at the first wrestling practice, and he took his kid under his wing. Abram helps him get his wrestling shoes on before meets and practice (he has to wear them backward so he can run). Abram tussles with him in warm ups, gives him high 5s, sits by him, and is a really good friend to this sweet boy. Abram just loves this kid and has said many times how he noticed the first time he met this boy that he was just a really cool kid inside.
I had noticed this over the season, as I know that Abram has a special place in his heart for kids with disabilities. But yesterday the wrestling coach pulled Abram over and told him that he has never seen someone as kind as Abram, and that he is so grateful that Abram has made it his priority to make sure that this other boy knows that one of the big, cool varsity boys is his true friend.Mark told Abram that is a better award than a trophy!