Thursday Night Lights - High School Football

I was really happy watching football last night.

My son is a freshman in high school this year. He is the starting safety for his JV Football team. The “correct” version of the phrase I used in my title is “Friday Night Lights”, named for the fact that the Varsity Football teams play under the lights on Friday nights. However, I think the JV team needs a slogan like that too. They, of course, play on Thursday nights.

Some background on me to understand my thoughts in context…I was not a high school football player. Football is not my favorite sport. I am not that “Glory Days” (Springsteen reference) guy that lives through his son’s adventures on the field. I wouldn’t care if he plays sports at all.

I think that as we get to our middle age (sigh), we spend a lot of time thinking about happiness. Am I happy? What is happiness really? What makes me happy? Am I happy with the choices I’ve made? Etc. We search for those moments that are uncluttered with these questions. Those moments that just “are”. The ones where you have that completely satisfied and calming, content feeling of knowing that…at this very moment…you are happy.

For me, one of those times is watching my son play football.

There’s an excitement in the air, as they get ready to play. The field looks beautifully green, the uniforms are all clean with the shirts tucked in tightly, and the lights that reflect off the helmets give off some kind of glow. The score is 0-0, and there’s the feeling that anything is possible. It’s like a new beginning.

Everyone knows there will be a battle, but each thinks that it’s going to go his way. The boys are tested out there, both physically and mentally. There are winners and losers. There is pain and comfort. There is joy and disappointment. In a couple of hours, you can see a mini life played out on that field. The kids learn. They learn to fight, win and deal with all of these ups and downs and wins and losses. They learn to rely on themselves and each other, and they learn what they are capable of.

The kids fight hard to win that battle with the scoreboard. Thinking that victory, will of course…make them happy. I’m sure it does. However, as we get older, hopefully we begin to realize that the results of the big fights…those big black and white issues…the score of the game at the end…aren’t what really makes us happy. It’s the very small moments that happen in a day. The little things that can easily go unnoticed. The, at times even, seemingly unimportant moments…like watching your son play football under the lights on Thursday nights. Don’t let those moments pass you by…notice them…and relish the victory of happiness.

Ok…group hug…I promise I’ll talk about like…beer and women next.

By the way…they won last night 28-20. The score’s important too