The Surreality Vs. The Reality

So at a certain point this weekend, I will have the chance to run into Mack Brown in the hotel I'm staying at. You may be asking the question, Who's Mack Brown? It's good that we have a thing called google.  For me, he's someone that I admire greatly.  I will always be appreciative for the helmet he signed as a wedding gift from one of our dear friends.  I'm sitting in a media workroom at the media hotel in Tampa, working on my blog and making people think I'm actually doing something important besides bloviating on a blog that no one reads.  The same dear friend that gave us the helmet, is also one of the key members of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game staff.  She lets me come and help do some fun things for her game.  My wife actually works and runs a number of different operations, and I get to come in and do all the fun stuff.  We get free food, I'll get to go to one of the team practices for a few minutes.  I also get to escort coaches/players around to where they need to go.  I've met some great and wonderful people that I never would have known at all.  What I'm trying to say is,  I appreciate it. 

Sometimes I catch myself getting hammered by life.  I think negatively more often than I should.  I get frustrated that things aren't working quite the way that I think they should go.  I've been thinking a lot about life recently.  I've been thinking about my brother and all the people that I know that have passed away, and I wonder what the best way to honor them is?  I think that it has to start with me at least being appreciative for still being here.  After that, I need to be appreciative for the opportunities I have to experience life.  I have always loved college football. The fact that I get to spend 6 days in the heart of it, still blows every part of my mind away.  I'm a little more comfortable around everything than I was when I first started, but I still find myself thinking how surreal it is that I have the chance to do this every year.  

I prayed for the right woman to come along and be my wife for a long time.  I know I prayed earnestly about it as I entered my late 20's.  As my mid 30's crept up, I began to resign myself to the fact that she wasn't going to come along.  And then, BOOM! Out of nowhere this match came up on EHarmony that had a picture of a really cute girl with an opening line that said, "I love college football, I volunteer for the Fiesta Bowl." I was smitten.  I immediately did whatever it was that you did to begin communication with her. She answered back.  I'm not going to tell you the story of taking 3 months to ask her out. When I did, and we went out for the first time, I knew I loved her.  I loved her more than I'd loved anyone in my life.  I still do.  Not only do I love her that much still, I appreciate her even more.  I had no idea what the line "I volunteer for the Fiesta Bowl" meant.  I had no idea that because of her, all of my college football dreams could come true.  You should see her here in the media areas.  She's doing what she was born to do.  She loves organizing and administrating, and helping.  She wants these games to be great.  She wants the volunteers to have a great time.  She wants to be a help to her friends that make this their full time job.  She's great at it.  I love seeing her in action.  I appreciate her.  

I appreciate that people that stay at home and take care of my boys.  My Mom sacrifices some sanity to keep a 5 and 3 year old alive.  I want her to know that I appreciate it.  My Dad sacrifices by being with my Mom and helping out with the boys.  Christa's parents are keeping them overnights a couple of nights while we're gone.  There are any number of other people that help us out as well.  I appreciate all of you.  

This new year, I really want to start out by being more appreciative.  That's where I'm starting.