Attempting to Celebrate

Life can really distract you sometimes. As a Louisiana resident and a sports fan, I should be celebrating right now. Two basketball teams from LSU have made it to the Final Four, the promised land of college basketball. While the women were expected to make it this far, the men were not. The Tigers have needed great defense and a lot of luck to advance to the game’s ultimate destination for the first time in 20 years. The state is awash in glee and anticipation over what has happened, as well as what is yet to come.
I’ve enjoyed it. I have watched every second of every men’s game in the NCAA tournament. There’s been tension and some celebration, but no emotional high. The sports fan, more specifically the LSU fan, in me is tempered by life.
It doesn’t seem so long ago that the accomplishments and shortcomings of LSU, Louisiana Tech and the Dallas Cowboys would set the tone for my day, week or month. Now, I can enjoy their successes but the disappointments matter little. That’s a wonderful thing.
Middle age has done it to me. I have an aging parent, a chronically ill sibling and two teenagers. Thank God my wife is wonderful and normal and well. She has been and continues to be an inspiring partner in dealing with life’s little travails. She’s also a great sports partner. She sat with me and suffered through the final moments of LSU’s overtime win over Texas, despite daunting personal distractions.
When you’re worried about your father and you feel powerless to help your brother and your son does the kind of self-destructive things that teenage boys do while your daughter lives and dies depending upon the attention paid to her by her friends, life gets a little confusing. Somehow, the number of commas in a basketball coach’s salary just doesn’t seem to matter. It’s a magnificent distraction. The success of LSU in particular and the riveting entertainment value of the NCAA tournament in general are welcome relief. I just wish I could be more exultant. It’s not to be, though. Exultation is something that occurs and cannot be faked or forced.
The weight of life and the responsibilities commensurate with existing as a forty-something husband/father/son/brother can lead you down a path of despondency. You must choose to turn away, however, and celebrate the things that are good.
I remember one time, as a little kid, attempting to make a deal with God about the fortunes of the Dallas Cowboys. I told God that if the Cowboys won the Super Bowl, I would go to church every Sunday for the rest of my life. When I was a child, I spoke as a child; I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. St. Paul wrote that long ago. Now, I know what he means. I’m not interested in making any deals with the lord Almighty about the Cowboys or LSU. I just pray I make it through this phase of my life as a good son, a responsible husband, a wise father and a kind brother.
If LSU wins a national championship in basketball while I’m doing all that, it will be fun to watch.
Geaux Tigers.

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