January 25 - Braxton's Mom

Martha's son Braxton died of heat stroke during football practice in late August of 1998. He was 15 years old.
Martha had raised Braxton by herself after Tom died in a car accident while Braxton was in kindergarten. It was a struggle, but everyone who knew Braxton agreed that she had done a fantastic job. Braxton was a good kid who was universally liked both by the teachers and other students at Hillsdale High School.
Small for his age, Braxton had always pushed himself harder than most of the other players on the Hillsdale High Tigers. What he lacked in size, he made up for in tenacity, heart, and other intangibles. During his freshman year, he'd gotten minutes on the varsity squad and was on track to make varsity as a sophomore and possibly start. Braxton's competitive spirit and work ethic, plus the brutal August heat, plus coach Phillips' refusal to let the boys take a water break until they'd finished their laps, plus Braxton's undiagnosed heart condition were too much that day. He collapsed near the end of practice and never got up.
Coach Phillips was asked to step down and he did, getting replaced by Coach Foster who had been the Tigers' defensive coordinator up until then. No criminal charges were pressed nor did Martha pursue any monetary damages.
It surprised a lot of people that season when Martha continued to go to all the Tigers' games, but to her, it felt perfectly natural (albeit painful). Braxton's friends were still playing and--like all the other football moms--she felt like they were practically her sons as well. It would have been unthinkable not to go to the games.
The other parents were supportive, of course, as was the team, which dedicated the season to Braxton. During the halftime ceremony of the Homecoming game, Braxton's jersey was retired, and Martha was given a bouquet of yellow roses by the Tigers' captains on the fifty yard line. The crowd gave her a standing ovation.
The next season, when Martha asked to join the Tigers' coaching staff as what she later came to call the Water Mom, everybody felt more than a little bit strange about it. After all, her son had died a year ago on the practice field and now she wanted to join the coaching staff? And a water mom? Maybe in grade school, but this was high school. The whole idea made everyone uncomfortable but ultimately not enough to say anything. She joined the staff.
She drove her own car to the games, always stayed out of the coaches' way, and never opened her mouth, but even still, everyone felt uncomfortable around her and nobody knew what to say to her. Whenever players came off the field or the coaches gave their talks at the end of practice, she would always be there in her Tigers jacket busily handing cups of water to the boys who sometimes mumbled a thank you. Some of the boys drank it. Some of them just held on to it.
It was hard for her not to do more. She wanted to help Braxton's friends with their equipment and pick up after them, but she knew that would make them feel weird and she didn't want that, so she just stuck with handing out water.
The next season came and went, and so did the next one which would have been Braxton's senior year. After that everyone expected her to hang it up but she didn't. When the late summer two a day practices began the next season, she was one of the first ones to arrive, even though, as usual, she hadn't been a part of the pre-season coaches meetings. Coach Foster exchanged pleasantries with her on the dewy morning grass as the rest of the staff arrived, and soon after that the players.
Several more seasons passed and Martha was always there. Never missed a game and rarely a practice.
Years later, Coach Foster took a job coaching at Hillsdale Community College and was replaced by John Hibberts who'd come in from out of the county. He didn't know about Martha's history with the team, nor was he particularly interested in it. When he told her politely but curtly that the team wouldn't be needing her services anymore, she didn't protest. She just said she understood and left.
That was three years ago, but she still goes to every Tigers game. Except for big games like Homecoming and the playoffs, Braxton's friends' parents don't go to the games anymore, so she usually sits by herself.