Victory!

Elite Eight and bound for Massachusetts

When pictures speak louder than words, don’t let your touchtyping get in the way.

When 2500 people in a capacity crowd and more who wanted to get in but can’t are focused on one thing and one thing only, you can reach new heights.

History will record the names of the individuals – I see a whole team cocooned by a network of love and support that heals wounds, old and new.

We eulogise the dead, both old and new – from a WWI veteran to tsunami/earthquakes victims to innocent lives cut short by terrorism.

And tonight, in a humble town in north-central Alabama, a basketball team celebrates with friends, family, fans and community.

I salute you, the participants, both teams having won a place in my memory for their passion.

The Stillman pep band as good as any BET marching band competitor, the UAH pep band and cheerleaders making me believe when they moved and moved me as one.

We lived in the moment together and it was better than any movie, any concert, any television show, any any any thing at all.

It was almost as good as…well, this is a family-oriented blog so I won’t say what you know I was going to say.  Almost…well, maybe better even (in some ways)!

A nod to Naomi Flanagan, wherever she is, for inspiring me to put value on the balance between work and family.

“That’s what finishing strong looks like” – right you are.

If I haven’t demonstrated to you the strength of living in the moment, I don’t know what else to do besides keep on living the way I do, the past no longer existing and the future never guaranteed.

You are the only reason I’m here, celebrating life as if it’s the only moment we’ll ever have with one another.

Free of worry.  Free of want.

Free.

States of energy in all their glory.

More nods: Papa Gyro’s for dinner tonight; Century Buick jacket by Cutter & Buck; Bill Penney Toyota for putting new tires on my wife’s ’02 Camry today; the free face painting; Tuscaloosa Charter bus; SportsMed athletic trainer; the guy with the T-shirt that read, “Nobody trains to lose”; ticket makers such as Weldon, Williams & Lick; the students who made the banner to be signed by fans and alumni after the game; the tournament trophy maker; those I’ve forgotten in my excitement although they made important contributions to tonight’s main event.

One word: AXIOS.  I don’t know what it means but it means something important to somebody.

The power to heal is a lot of responsibility because it’s also the power to tear apart systems in order to get to the deeper, less superficial, root of a problem we don’t know is there until we examine with the state-of-the-art, bleeding-edge instruments we aren’t sure will work until we’ve lost ourselves in the quest for the unknown future.

Strive for the unknown because that’s all there is.

Enjoy your talents for what they give you, and the people around you, in the here and now.

No one will remember me after I’m gone but my impact will last forever – I’m making it count because you’re here with me.

Win or lose, we depend on each other for this moment.

I think I’ll step outside and yell at the sky again.  It sure feels good!  Aaaa-whooooooo!