The MVP

By Crystal Dishmon

“Beep, Beep,”, Jared jumped up so surprised from the sound of the alarm ringing at 7:30 am despite having to wake up this time every school day, the alarm still took Jared by surprise. Jared pulled the sheets from over him and his nostrils quickly smelled the sweet smell of blueberry pancakes cooking. Jared jumped out of bed ran to his bedroom window to see the sun oh so bright. He was excited to start his day for several different reasons.

“Jared, son is that you finally out bed “, shouted his dad.

“Yessssss”, yelled Jared.

Jared looked at himself in the mirror and then kissed the framed picture of his sweet mom he had placed on his dresser. Jared kept the picture of his mom there since she had passed away three months ago of cancer, and he would be sure to kiss his mom ‘s picture every morning. That was Jared ‘s morning ritual along with other things.

“I love you mom and I am going to keep making you proud”, whispered Jared.

And then he eagerly began to search through his dresser drawer for the clothes he was going to wear for the day. Jared grabbed a pair of blue jeans, black t-shirt, red socks, and white underwear. But then Jared remembered what was in his closet. He opened the closet door and there was his black suit, and black tie.

“I better not forget to grab that before heading out for school”, he reminded himself.

He then gently grabbed his black suit and placed it on his bed and then he headed off to the bathroom for his shower. Moments later Jared was downstairs having his morning motivational talk with his dad. Jared made sure to spend as much time with his dad as possible before they both started with their day. The morning talks with his dad were especially important for Jared after losing his mom. Both he and his dad realized quickly how much they needed each other and how important it was to spend time together.

“So son what are you going to do today to make sure you have a great day”, asked his dad.

“Be positive and be hopeful”, responded Jared.

“That sounds like a great plan to me son”, said his dad.

“And dad what are you going to do to make sure you have a great day”, Jared asked of his dad.

“Be just as positive and be just as hopeful”!, shouted his dad with excitement.

“But today is special because you have your youth center baseball award ceremony later today”, explained his dad.

“I know, and I am definitely looking forwarding to it because well you, I get to bring home the you know what”, Jared said.

“I just wish your mom was here to see you accept your Most Valuable Player Award, but she would be proud of you son, I know that for sure”, assured his dad.

“I wish she was here as well dad; she would probably be hounding me about my speech right about now”, teased Jared.

“Jared don’t forget your speech; Jared be sure to smile and be sure to look at the audience”.

“Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha”, Jared and his dad both laughed as Jared gave his best impression of his mom.

“Well son lets grab our things and head out, school is waiting for you, and Mr. Boss man is waiting for me”, chuckles his dad.

Jared then stuffed the last piece of his blueberry pancake in his mouth and hurried to grab his black backpack and other items. And both he had his dad rushed out the door and hopped into his dad ‘s black pickup truck. Jared finally made his way into the doors of his school. He instantly spotted his best friend Deon at the lockers.

“Hey Deon”, shouted Jared.

“Hey, there goes Mr. MVP himself “, and Deon then beings to chat softly. “MVP, MVP, MVP”.

“Thanks for the early cheers Deon, I just hope you can make it later”, said Jared.

“Yes, I will be there for sure, my entire family will be there. My mom thought it would be best for us all to come including my annoying little sister”, proclaimed Deon.

“Hey, I’m glad to hear that the whole family will be there, including your annoying little sister”, said Jared.

The school bell sounds, alerting them to get to class and so they both started to walk into the classroom. And before they could make it to their seats. They heard Ms. Billings their 8th grade teacher shout.

“Good morning class take your seats and pull out your notebooks for this morning’s writing assignment”.

Jared then quickly jumped in his seat and pulled out his big white and black notebook and patiently waited for Ms. Billings to instruct the class on what they would be writing. Then Ms. Billings said to the class. I want everyone to write a letter to their hero. Ms. Billings said you have 30 minutes to complete the assignment.

Jared eagerly opened his big white and black notebook and he started to write, and the first words on his notebook paper were Dear Mom. He was so excited about being able to write to his mom, and that just really made him look even more forward to what the rest of the day had to bring.

It was 4:00pm and the youth center baseball awards were just about to start. Jared was backstage and he could see everyone in the audience including his dad, and Deon’s family right in the front row. Jared then heard Coach Rogers make his announcement.

“Jared May is this years Most Valuable Player and will Jared please come to the front stage to receive his reward and make his MVP speech.

And as Jared started to walk toward the front stage he was surprised because he did not see a trophy of any kind. Coach Rogers then made another announcement as Jared made it to the front of the stage.

“Please stand as the youth center along with the local Cancer Foundation award this 20,000-dollar check to Jared May the MVP of this year’s youth center baseball team”.

Jared was shocked because he was not expecting such a thing, just a trophy is all, and as Coach Rogers grabbed the big cardboard replica check. Jared then saw his Dad shedding tears and uttering the words be positive and be hopeful. Coach Rogers then instructed Jared to say his MVP speech that he prepared. And Jared pulled out his small black notebook which is where he had written down his speech, and he opened the small black notebook and then he closed it. Jared reached for the mic and said, I am not going to say my MVP speech, instead I want to read you all a letter I wrote today. He then pulled out a piece of notebook paper from his pocket and he began to read the letter, which started off with Dear Mom. Finally, when he was done reading his letter, everyone in the audience were clapping, crying and shouting MVP.