The Game of Life

The game of life is a lot like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity. ~Lewis Grizzard

Do you like sports? Did you watch the Super Bowl? On my Facebook page tonight, I asked if my friends there would be watching the Super Bowl or reading or both. Reading came in first by a landslide although several people said they’d do both. Some planned to read while the game was going on and then watch the commercials. That’s a turnaround from what we usually want to do.

The truth is the Super Bowl long ago became more than just a football game. It’s part of our culture like turkey at Thanksgiving and lights at Christmas, and like those holidays beyond their meaning, a factor in our economy. ~Bob Schieffer

The Super Bowl has become an event for sure. While I’ve never been to a Super Bowl party and have to confess that I’ve not watched that many of the fifty previous games, I know that Super Bowl parties abound. The commercials are all the talk on Monday. So tonight, since I’m still recovering from my major office cleaning days last week, I sat down and watched most of the game and commercials. I missed the Clydesdale horses. They did show a flash or two of them, but not enough. Even though beer of any kind is never on my shopping list, I liked the horses. And that commercial a couple of years ago with the puppy and the horse was a favorite. Still, as I told my husband, since it never made me buy their product, I guess my liking the commercial meant nothing to the company paying for them. I just liked the puppy and the horses. This year I liked the pictures of the Super Bowl babies. They were cute. Which of the commercials did you like?

Oh, and about that office cleaning, I got most of it done except for one last bunch of papers on my desk so I can’t take a picture yet. And then there are the crammed bookcases, but I figure they can stay crammed a little longer. But I can see desk surface now and that’s good. All that cleaning and moving things around about gave my dog, Oscar, a nervous breakdown. He doesn’t like his lying down places shifted. But more about my sweet, neurotic dog in a future post.

We all know that the great memories of our childhood are the little triumphs – it doesn’t really matter whether that was in writing, art, on the hockey field or on the football field. It’s something that makes you feel – ‘I can do this stuff.’   ~Michael Morpurgo

I like this quote. It is those things we do well that give us confidence as young people. Writing was my thing. I couldn’t do cartwheels or somersaults. I was much too shy to be the star of any plays. I can draw a duck and a really great pencil, but that’s about my limit in the artistic world. I was prone to strike out in any softball game. I can’t tumble. I could run, but I was never on any track teams. I knew how to work. After all, I was a farm girl. I learned to finish any tasks I undertook. But writing was my thing. I knew words had magic at a very young age and I wanted to use those words to tell stories. Just as the Super Bowl can celebrate 50 years of football, I can celebrate 50 plus years of putting words together to tell stories. I’m about to start again with a new story. I need to keep in mind “I can do this stuff” and try to score my writing points while I have the opportunity.

Thanks for reading. What is something that makes you feel “I can do this stuff?”