I feel like I need to do a follow up column to last week’s emotional outpouring in the wake of the death of Cameron Fairchild.

It comes from something that I normally say to parents at graduation parties, knowing that it’s the last time I will see some of them and their children ever again.

I will say to them “thank you for sharing (insert graduating student’s name here) with all us.”

And I mean that when I say it. I am grateful for the sacrifices parents make so that their children can be in the spotlight. I am appreciative for the miles they drove taking their kids to practices and for the family schedules that got rearranged. I pay respect to the people who had to sit in the stands when their child missed a shot or dropped a pass or kicked the ball over the cross bar above a wide-open net and listen to the criticisms ring through their ears from the people around them.

So, when I got to the front of the long line at Warsaw Community Church last Thursday, I simply thanked Cam’s mom for sharing him with all of us.

I wish I could be at all the matches and meets of all of the teams in the area. I wish I could meet, get to know and tell the stories of every kid.

But I can’t. No one can.

So all I can do is the best I can do.

You might remember that last week I challenged us to be kind—to not wait to share love and show love to others.

So many of you have expressed to me that you were inspired to do that by the events of last week.

However, it should start with me.

One thing I can do is use the ink on this page to send out my heartfelt thanks to parents in Warsaw and everywhere else for sharing their young men and young women with all of us.

It brings to mind my own parents, who loved sports during a time when being a sports parent was very different.

My parents sat in the heat of August to watch me play soccer, drove through the snow to the gym in the winter, and got really wet sitting out at the baseball field watching me play in the spring.

They could have pulled the reigns on me—told me I could only play in two seasons. In fact, they signed off on me being able to play baseball and golf at the same time for three years at Argos.

They shared me, and I am so much a better person for it.

And maybe, someday, I will have the chance to do the same with Hannah and Oliver. Maybe I will get the chance to stand out there in front of everyone on senior night and catch my tears with my proud parent’s smile.

Time will tell that.

But that is for later. Now, I want to make sure that parents of players past, present and future know that someone really appreciates what it’s like to be an athlete and what it’s like to be in an athlete’s inner circle.

Oh, let me thank one more group today: coaches’ spouses.

They are the home team of every coach. They are the anchor that tethers the coach to their real lives.

I was a coach’s spouse once. I loved most of it.

I’ll bet you can guess the parts I didn’t.

From the deepest regions of my soul, parents, thank you and God bless you.