Today my husband and I had four tickets to the Patriots home opener against the Arizona Cardinals. We took my Boston daughter and her friend. My husband planned a huge tailgate. He had chicken and steak tips and a myriad of other goodies. Half way to Foxboro my husband realizes he forgot the grill. This would’ve been funny in itself, but a few years ago when he planned a big tailgate for friends of ours, he forgot the tips. On the way he had me texting people to see if we could borrow their grill. That’s the way the day started.
We parked in our favorite lot, with friends, (who had a grill) and met up with our daughter. The mood in the parking lot was festive because there was no way anyone expected the Patriots to do anything but win today. We had a lively tailgate, lots of food and laughter, and before we knew it, it was time to head into the ballpark. The weather was perfect for football, our seats were 50 yard line, 4 rows up behind the Patriot bench – perfect for my husband to help out Bill and encourage Tom.
The game itself was rather boring. Both teams traipsing up and down the field, without much muster, trading field goals. Then in the fourth quarter the Cardinals pulled out this amazing lead – 20 – 12. The Patriots finally decided to play football and had us standing up and rocking the stadium as they moved the score to 20 – 18, Cardinals. The Pats drove down the field, wound down the clock, and with one second left, kicked the winning field goal. The stadium went wild. The teams were going to leave the field, when all of a sudden the stadium went silent. The Cardinals were lining up with the ball. They took a knee and won the game.
Stunned. That was the only word. I couldn’t figure out what happened. I saw the ball go through the uprights. But apparently it didn’t. I just sat there. This couldn’t be true. The Pats lost their first home opener since 2001 to a less than average opponent. I got up and followed my family out of the stadium fully expecting the speaker to call everyone back because there was some mistake.
Ambling to the car, I remembered so many times in my life when I thought “the win” was in the bag, only to be shocked to be on the losing side. Times when I was blindsided by the unexpected. Times when I didn’t make the team. Times when I got a C or even once, a D. Times when a friend shocked me by their take on things. Times when I was clueless I did anything wrong, only to incur wrath.
What to do with these times? Think positive in spite of the negative. Face the cloud and find the silver lining.
“Positive thinking is a constant attention to the details that make up an average day – with the knowledge that how you live this moment may reflect on the rest of your life.” Tom Walsh
Sometimes it just plain ugly and all you can control is how you’re going to react to it. Today? Made our way back to our favorite sports bar, ordered some great food and took great appreciation that we no longer had to drive back to NY for me to be in school on Monday morning. We sat and talked about the years we sat at that very bar and wished for this day.
And so, as another day goes by, home by 7:30 pm instead of midnight, appreciating every moment, and…I have written.
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