It seemed like old times again.

S called me around 7 p.m. on Saturday night
to let me know the the NCAA Wrestling Championships were on television that night.

I had already know it was this weekend
and had an offer on the table of a tournament ticket, hotel and a ride to Omaha
but turned it down because I knew
this would be the first weekend
he would be getting out of the psych ward of hospital
for the sixth time of his young life.

I was watching March Madness Basketball Tournament,
the NCAA version, and quickly scanned the satellite dish
to find out which channel NCAA wrestling was playing on

and it had Jayson Ness of Minnesota wrestling in the 133 lbs. finals.
and S had wrestled Jayson in the Finals of the Northern Plains Tournament in the summer of 2005 at 125 lbs.
and Ness had dominated everyone else in the tournament.
The match was still 0-0 going into the second period
and although S lost in the next period, he had wrestled one of the best wrestlers in the country
to a close match.

At Nationals that year in Fargo, S decided not to cut a lot of weight and decided to wrestle up a weight at 130 lbs.
and later on, talking at the tournament, he mentioned Jayson Ness
had come up to him and asked him how he was doing.
S was surprised when I said that Jayson had looked at the brackets
and did not see S's name, although he did see S at weigh ins.
and probably S was only wrestler that had caught his attention
and Ness was acknowledging that.

It was a nice surprise to see Ness come back and win the NCAA FInals match on television
with his signature duck under and body lock for the back points and victory
with 18 seconds left

and we both cheered and were happy for Ness
we were talking wrestling again
and forgot for a moment that
my son has been struggling with a mental illness
for three years now
and he was back
to just being
my son again