It almost can't end soon enough

Counting today, there are only four days of school left, and it almost can't end soon enough.  JR seems to have basically checked out, and in some ways I almost can't blame him.  As my husband put it last night, if he's worrying about getting bullied, it's kind of hard to worry about academics.

 Last night he had a baseball game, and for several reasons I didn't go.  It turns out they were playing the team on which the child who has physically assaulted him during the school year plays.  This kid is one of the worst, if not THE worst player on the team.  I'm not saying that to be mean...I've literally never seen this child make contact with the ball.  Apparently towards the end of the game, this child took a swing on a strike three pitch that had JR's teammates in an uproar.  According to some of the teammates, this child purposely made sure his bat struck JR square on the elbow and he made no attempt to actually hit the ball.  JR was writhing in pain, but his teammates and others in the stands were yelling at the ump over this child's behavior.  While my husband was there, he was coaching another child and did not see the specific incident, but for so many other people to be upset about it, and obviously given this child's history, it certainly is possible that his intention was malicious.  Please understand, not all of the children on the team attend the same school as JR, and even those that do attend with him, because the class is separated into two "teams" with no interaction, are necessarily aware of the history between the boys, so with the reaction of the teammates I can only assume reality is close to the boys' version.

Which brings me to...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!!  My husband wanted to call this child's father and let him know what he thought, but I pointed out that there are still four days for this child to seek retaliation, and the younger sister of this child has a history of bullying JC, so let's not get that started up again either.  I just kept praying last night for peace about the situation, and most importantly for JR to not be hurt, emotionally or physically.  And in some way, something good did come out of it.  JR got to see how much his team cares about and respects him...my husband said they were all pretty worked up about the situation.  JR was very happy that so many boys were sticking up for him, and I know that had to make him feel good.  I KNOW that there are always going to be people like this in life, and we've explained to JR that even switching schools isn't going to make it all go away...there will be someone like that at his new school.  But hopefully, JR won't have a target on his back, and I also hope that if he ever sees anyone being treated like he has been this year, that he'll be able to be the support like his team was for him last night.  While I know that sports is not JR's first love, I'm so grateful that he's been able to be a part of such a great team with so many really nice boys, and I'm so grateful for the experience my husband and our friend have been able to give the boys by coaching them over the last three years!