TPG Blog #9: Every Day Is Game Day

Hello there!

This GAME DAY shirt – it may become my daily uniform.  My superpower.  I’m warning you all now that if you see me coming towards you wearing this shirt, be ready.  You’ll think you hear Flo Rida’s “It’s Going Down For Real” and oh yes, yes you do.  Get your hearts ready.  There is some stuff about to go down.

This shirt – today I’m wearing it on a Thursday.  In March.  No game in sight but the game of life.

This shirt is from my dear friend, Rosanne whose son played high school football with mine.  During football games, we would sit for about 2 minutes in the top row of the bleachers, stand for the national anthem and then stand behind our seats the rest of the game.  Football mamas out there – if you are one, you know and you just got that feeling in your stomach all over again - anxious and proud and all the things.  I wore it on the days of his college games too, both when we were there in the stands and watching online and, again, I stood a lot.  It’s what we do. 

So today I wore the shirt.  I have lots to do as I do tomorrow and the day after that one.  Don’t mind me over here – it’s my superpower now so I’ll be wearing it every day.  Please place an order, Rosanne, for 1 million shirts and I think they’ll sell like hotcakes.  We all need a bit of the swagger that this shirt gives us and the comradery that it brings into our lives.  Love each other well and do all the things that we do in a day – and for goodness sakes, turn up Flo Rida!

This quote greets visitors to my website:

“There isn’t anyone you couldn’t love once you’ve heard their story.” 

Well said, Sister Mary Lou Kownacki, although there are days when I do think “Well,  … ” or “Even …?”  then I laugh and go on with my day.  We all have stories – and it is Game Day!  What is your story going to be?

…

Here is my dinner tip for your Game Day shirt-wearing day.  Charcuterie boards – previously meat and cheese on a pretty tray.  My mom could whip one up as unannounced visitors were pulling up in our driveway and my grandmother was faster than my mom!  The Irish made them long before the craze, always had supplies on hand, a fresh cake on the cake plate in the windowsill and a fully stocked bar.  Cup of coffee or happy hour or both in the same day with the same visitors still visiting – they were ready.  The magic was in the visit:  a two-way conversation in which listening was truly an art form, serious conversations at times, problems solved with pros and cons written on paper napkins and the visitors leaving with a spring in their step and a bit better than when they arrived. Charcuterie boards and fondue pots and taco bars brought people together for a little bit longer visiting session and created teams around your table of “I’ve never tried it” and “I love it”.  Try it around your dinner table tonight.  Salami, cheese, pickles, grapes, little smokies with fancy toothpicks, a loaf of French bread to do it yourself or for goodness sakes, find a deli or your best girlfriend that makes them and pay them for one.  It will at least temper the speed at which they eat, your clean-up is lickety split and you’re back to Game Day!

Have a great week living your great big life, Sis!  Go do it all – wear the shirt, play the music – because it’s your thing.  Let’s cheer each other on and give grace to others this week. It’s what we do, you know.

xoxo

With love,

Kelly