It’s Monday morning, July 6th, and officially the first day of the 53rd year of life for me. Over the age of 50 I think birthdays become more nostalgic or contemplative in some way; balancing the thoughts of where you are going against the places you have been. I feel melancholy this morning after such a wonderful day with my littles, Leo and Ella (5) and Jordan (3 11/12th). (Her birthday is July 27th!)
My wife Kate is still in Chicago with girlfriends having enjoyed U2 and then the last Grateful Dead concert at Soldier Field. Typing that I realize that the only regular season NFL game I played in was at Soldier Field in 1984 against the bears. Sort of poetic I guess. If it were Bruce Springsteen’s last concert you can bet I would be there too. Good for Kate and her girl friends!
On the home front, the littles started "school camp" today at 8 am. They each wandered into our master bedroom one at a time around 7 AM and it was my job to get them dressed, teeth brushed, fed, snacks in hand, and to school by 8 am. I find that daunting, even in retrospect, as usually Kate handles our morning logistics. So I decided to reduce the total amount of potential negotiations with each child from a dozen to under 5 by suggesting we all get dressed quickly and head to our favorite restaurant, Rick’s Diner, just up the street on the way to school. That is something only Dad does on a school day and they even talked me into chocolate milk with their pancakes, bologna, eggs and waffles. I had a bowl of oatmeal and coffee and even got the chance to skim the newspaper while they organized the sugar, butter and jelly holders on the table as we waited for our food. I was having a wonderful morning, the kids were laughing and there was no yelling. So far, so good for Dad.
I smiled at the photos of the USA Women’s Soccer World Cup Championship and marveled at the 50+ yard goal Carli Lloyd scored because the imagination to even see the opportunity to take a shot on goal from that far out was amazing! I turned the page and noticed an article on Russell Wilson, one of my favorite professional athletes, and how he is losing credibility for appearing greedy regarding his upcoming contract extension. WHAT?! This guy has done everything everybody has asked him in such a classy way, and now he wants to be treated fairly based on his on field performance and he is being villainized. I was disappointed to read that article and stopped to say a little prayer 'Lord, make that right please.'
Across the page was a baseball article with a photo of a man and a boy on his back, both wearing KC royals baseball hats and the boy had an oxygen tube in his nose. I was curious. The boy was Noah Wilson, a 6 year old with leukemia. He died last week from his leukemia, even though he was declared in remission a month ago after his last radiation treatment. Noah had a friendship with KC Royal first baseman Eric Hosmer that had drawn national attention during the World Series. It was a great story of inspiration and courage. I read it twice. Tears streamed down my cheeks.
My mind raced and a new thought arose, a memory that popped up to the front of my consciousness. I was introduced to leukemia when I was 8 years old. Dickie Miller, a new friend of mine from my Warminster Pioneers pop warner football team suddenly couldn’t play football anymore and wore bandanas on his head because he went bald. Dickie died a few months after he started wearing bandanas. I wasn’t sure what happened. I was struck at how quickly Noah's cancer returned and took him, even though a month ago he celebrated an apparent victory. I couldn’t help but project that possibility onto my leukemia. It didn’t scare me and it wasn’t news to me. It was just a reminder that it’s possible.
My next thought was a phone call I got from Coach Steve Wilson last night. Steve is a former teammate with the Brocnos and a retired college coach who has spent the last 2 years mentoring my son Shawn, now a qb at Vanderbilt University on the art of quarterbacking. I am finishing a book “The QB Mentor” about those classes and lessons that will be coming out in January that I am very excited about. Coach Wilson said to me last night, “Happy Birthday Brother” and we chit chatted and then he said something that I will never forget: “Man, I was thinking today about all we have been through together the past two years with Shawn and your leukemia. And to me, what seems to have happened is that the Lord has said over you 'no, no, no, not this one. I have special plans for him. There are things I want him to do for me, so he isn’t going anywhere just yet, no matter what the doctors say.'” I was humbled, encouraged, inspired and curious all in the same moment. Perhaps that is true. And if it is, I want to fulfill those plans better than any I have my entire life.
After I cleared my eyes and scanned the rest of the sports section, my littles were still playing nicely organizing the table stuff and our food wasn’t ready yet, so I checked out the “Science and Technology” section and the photo of a perfect rainbow under the headline “Shimmering Science of Rainbows”. I read a little and thought about how magical rainbows are to little kids and adults alike. There was a quote by a scientist who was explaining the refractory elements of the phenomenon that I really liked; “a double rainbow appears when there are two pots of gold lying around.” I smiled. Thats perfect. And then on a sidebar article the subtitle was “Are there rainbows at night?” The answer was yes, there are, but our eyes can’t detect the color range so we only see them as white.
I thought to myself - isn’t that so true? There is so much going on around us all the time, how much of it are we not seeing because we are not looking, or noticing or paying attention, or just not capable of seeing. There is so much more to life than meets the eye, things that are only seen through the heart and the soul.
I silently whispered a prayer "Lord, let me, and all of us, develop eyes to see, and ears to hear and and heart to know …"
"Who gets the pancake?” interrupted my prayer as our waitress arrived holding 3 plates like only a professional waitress can. Ella chirped “me, me, me."
I said “What do you say young lady?”
Ella: “Thank you.”
Waitress: “You’re welcome.”
Breakfast was terrific. We were 5 minutes late to school camp, but that’s ok, we are on DAD time.
Amen and Amen.
Have a great week.
Scott