August 24th, 2018. – Mark’s funeral.
The funeral home Coordinator looks at me and nods, giving me the signal that it is time to gather the kids and head down the aisle to the front of the church.
Deep breath in….gather the kids.
Lots of people, I am doing ok.
Isaac nudges me with is elbow and tilts his head to the right….I look over…
His ENTIRE football team came to Mark’s funeral with their jerseys on.
– This was not mandatory.
Isaac and I were both blown away, over 25 kids and the coaches came to show their respects and to support their teammate, Isaac Hoverson.
Still brings tears to my eyes as I remember the feeling of seeing them as I walked down the aisle to the front of the church.
The story does not end there.
In the picture below you see two parts.
The bottom picture is Isaac and I after his last game.
The top picture is Mark Hoverson playing in a High School game his Senior year.
Isaac’s Coach proceeded to find Mark’s old high school coach to find out if they still had Mark’s original jersey that he used to play in.
THEY DID!
They presented Isaac with his dad’s football jersey that he had worn during the games, ( I am wearing it in the picture below and I wore it to all of Isaac’s games) along with a couple newspaper clippings where Mark is seen wearing the jersey.
******I write with grateful tears******
PS. – A little funny sidenote story about Isaac having the number 32.
Isaac had asked Mark what number he was in high school so that he could ask for the same number.
Mark said 32 or 34……
He was #33. Classic Mark. 😉
