Your Time

Chapter 48

{September 2032}

Carrie went back to work. After debating all summer with Harrison, she decided to go back to teaching. With Adam and Emma now off in college, she would be able to better balance her life as a teacher and a wife and mother. This time, instead of going back to being a college professor, she taught 6th grade.

She loved teaching 6th grade, even more than teaching the college students. They were so sweet. And they didn't do illegal things like some college students did.

Today was career day. The goal of it was to get the kids some ideas of what they might want to do when they grow up. Instead of her standing in front of the class and talking about being a teacher, she made Harrison talk about being a football player. His job was to explain what being a professional athlete was like and what the work ethic was to get there. Because it required some very hard work.

They sat behind her desk as the kids came into school. As soon as the first students made their way into her room, they came flying over to her desk at the sight of Harrison sitting beside her. A few of them asked for autographs while the others stood there in awe. Once there were at lease 20 of them in front of her desk, Carrie told them to go sit down and that Harrison would sign autographs later.

One kid came in wearing a Cowboys hat and Harrison's jersey. He looked like he was going to fall over once he saw Harrison. He held his hands over his mouth as he made his way to his seat.

"Now he's a big fan of yours," she told Harrison. "Not as big as me though."

As the bell rang and announcements began, all eyes glanced over towards Carrie and Harrison. "You know I'm not sure I can do this."

"Are my kids to intimidating?"

"Just a little."

She laughed. "Well I didn't exactly tell them you were coming."

Instead of telling the class about Harrison's appearance, she decided to surprise them. That was really showing.

Once announcements were over, Carrie playfully pushed at his shoulder. "Get up there."

He didn't move. "Come on hotshot. You have an audience waiting."

"They'll listen?"

"Absolutely. They listen to me and I'm not a professional athlete."

With another push from his wife, Harrison walked to the front of the room and to the little podium Carrie would often lean against. Before he could even say his name, they started clapping for him.

The clapping continued until Harrison put his hand up. "Thank you."

"Most of you know who I am. I-"

The kid wearing all the Cowboys gear shouted, "you're a really good football player!"

He smiled. "I'm here today to talk to you guys about career day. Your teacher, or my wife, asked me to come and talk to you about my extraordinary career as a football player."

Harrison was stopped when somebody asked, "you and Mrs. Ford are married?"

"Yes Elizabeth," Carrie answered from behind her desk with a smile.

She never told the kids that. It was an attempt to take that extra attention away. Because the kids would certainly ask about life with Harrison.

Harrison started again. "Playing football for a living isn't a normal job like working in an office or at a restaurant," he told them. "It requires a lot of hard work and dedication all year round."

"I know many of you have dreams of being professional athletes because of what you guys have told her," he said, gesturing to Carrie sitting behind her desk. "Each and everyone of you have the potential to play professionally. But playing professionally requires as I said earlier, hard work and dedication. It's a path I loved taking, and would take all over again."

"Playing professional football takes a lot of practice, just like riding a bike. Practice that in the end, is worth it. Now you're not going to hear me talk about being an account, I'm going to tell you about my career."

Harrison leaned against the podium. "When I was your age, my dad and I would always watch football together. Sometimes we went to Cowboys and Texans games. Just like you, when I was in 6th grade, I decided I wanted to be a professional football player. My dad who'd played football through high school and college, showed me some strength and conditioning exercises I could do. All year round, wether it was summer or not, I would go workout in our basement for an hour and a half everyday. Then when my dad came home from work, I would practice with him. For three years I did this until I got to high school. Everyday we would have practice. Then after practice I'd go home and workout some more. And I'll tell you, all my hard work paid off. I was the third pick in the 2006 NFL draft. I was picked before the guys that went to college and played four more years before entering the draft. My football career lasted 10 years before I retired. I retired with 3 Super Bowl championships and a trip to the Hall of Fame."

He took a breath. "Playing professional football football made some of the best memories of my life. I won 3 Super Bowls, broke quite a few records, but my favorite part was that I was doing what I loved in front of lots of people."

"Getting to where I was is going to take a lot of hard work and dedication. There were nights I was up until midnight finishing homework after working out for a few hours. Sometimes, I wouldn't get to see Carrie for days outside of school because I was always playing football or working out."

"What I want you guys to take from this isn't my life story, it's that if each and every one of you work hard for something you really want, like studying to be a doctor, you can achieve it."

Once Harrison finished, he stepped away from the podium. Carrie came around her desk and asked the class, "who wants autographs?"

Everyone put their hand up and soon Harrison was walking around the room signing autographs for the kids.