Dear Reader:

This fall is so beautiful… everyday takes my breath away and like the sign says (outside Walsh and Mollie’s neighborhood ) fall is proof that change can not only, be a good thing, but put a ” giddy-up” in your footsteps through life!

I knew yesterday was going to be a sports day through and through… but I had forgotten how much sports teach us about the good, the bad, and the ugly… about fear, courage. acceptance and determination.

At the last minute… Lachlan’s game got cancelled so Grandmother Boo had more time to just hang with family… and especially grandchildren. Making memories is my favorite thing to do in this stage of my life!

And Rutledge’s last scheduled game of the season was everything a young quarterback could wish for his team… big win so everyone got to play and Rutledge just had fun… all his friends had come out to cheer him on and I have never laughed so much with all the players and parents! Not a cloud in the sky… the perfect fall day!

The Clemson game had already started by the time we got back from the Iron Horse’s fun victory’ … ( in hindsight a blessing in disguise!) *** ” You know you’re getting old when you can’t decide what will happen first… the game that just won’t end… ends… or your heart stops beating! “

Everyone knew that this game would probably come down to the wire ( two undefeated teams) but we didn’t know we would have to play two teams simultaneously… Syracuse and ourselves.

It was like every fumble, interception or penalty that could happen in football (throughout an entire season) fell out of some Pandora’s box on top of the Tigers… and Syracuse got a taste of this themselves at a very inopportune time near the end of the game. ( Truthfully Rutledge’s game was more enjoyable to watch)

Look at the beautiful addition room we got to watch the game on the newly renovated porch-outside patio furniture coming soon!

But driving home … later in the day watching fall filter through the streets with its bright colors … I realized that sports games are just tiny slices of the cosmos where humanity is played out in real life.

Throughout the four quarters of the Clemson-Syracuse game… the universe shifted back and forth casting sunlight on one side or the other… leaving the other side dejected in shadows… but then it would reverse and hope revived the piece of life being played out before a large enthusiast throng on both sides.

So until tomorrow -In the end time ended the game… which it will do in our own lives… but in conclusion …we want to know we gave life back everything it gave us… light, darkness, fear, compassion, determination, acceptance…and we let love win regardless of circumstances …we never quit playing the game …until the end…

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh and here’s why!