Jon was never much of a sports guy, and was definitely not ever a football guy. But he nevertheless found himself taking a seat right at the 50-yard line, about ten rows back, on Schoellkopf Field at Cornell University. A place he’d become increasingly familiar with over his freshman year at college.
He still wasn’t much of a football guy, but he’d gained an appreciation for cheerleading. Not in the “long legs and big boobs” sort of way, but in the sense that what they were doing required incredible skill and athleticism. They had to train their bodies to be capable of intense levels of dexterity, and they had to train their minds to keep entire dance routines straight in their heads, as they were jumping and flipping and throwing one another into the crisp, upstate New York air.
Besides, it wasn’t even football season. That’s why attendance was relatively sparse, and why Jon could get a seat at the 50-yard line so easily, to watch someone who was very important to him perform. There was a crowd, to be sure. But getting a good seat just meant showing up a little early.
The Big Red cheerleading squad was just taking the field for an exhibition performance, and Jon was searching among them for a particular familiar face, when his wife sat down heavily in the chair beside him.
“They were out of peanut M&Ms, so I just got you regular ones,” Sarah said, handing him the small cardboard box as she balanced the full tray of nachos and two hot dogs that were intended solely for herself. In her fifth month of pregnancy, Sarah’s natural gait was well on its way to becoming an outright waddle, and her appetite was going through the roof. “Do you see where Karyn is in the formation yet?”
Jon accepted the M&Ms and turned back to the field, pointing. “On the right side, third from center,” he provided.
And there she was: Karyn black. Jon’s best friend. Sarah’s best friend. Cheerleader for the Cornell Big Red squad. Made up as pretty as any girl on the field, smiling as brightly, moving as fluidly. She’d worked hard to earn her spot, and she was justifiably proud of herself.
Jon leaned back in his plastic stadium seat. “You know, if you’d told me a year ago that Karyn would become a college cheerleader, and that you’d be my wife, and that we’d be expecting our first child, I’d have called you insane.”
“Don’t call the mother of your child insane,” Sarah teased as she dug into her nachos. “It’s rude.”
A low chuckle built in Jon’s chest, and he smiled, and he took in a cool breath of springtime air. And he gently wrapped an arm around his pregnant wife, careful not to disturb her collection of food, and gave her shoulder a squeeze.
“Do you ever miss being out there on the field?” Jon asked.
“No,” the answer came easily. “Cheerleading was fun, but I never wanted it to define me. Being a wife? Being a mother? Being a powerful witch who sits at the nexus of two powerful witch families? All those things can define me now.”
And the two of them leaned into each other, warming with the physical touch. And they watched as Karyn performed flawlessly alongside her fellow cheerleaders. And they slowly filled up with love for one another, with love for Karyn, with love for their unborn child.
When the two got home, like they did after all of Karyn’s performances, they would have to use magic on one another to release some of the pressure that was building. But that would be something else to look forward to. For now, they were in the moment, and full of love.
