MAKING TIME AND COUNTING DAYS

Making time to do the things you need to get done is one thing.

Taking time for the people and places important to you is another.

Which one are you best at?

Not long ago, which means not yesterday, I attended a sports award ceremony.

It was my first as the head coach for a youth soccer team. I did the presentations at a pizza place.

The whole thing got to me. These kids were five for six years old, boys and girls, some of whom I’d never see again.

I got a little watery at the thought as I handed out trophies while telling the room what I predicted for each player.

You will all play more games, more matches, more rounds, and all listen to your moms and dads.

You will read and write and math and do well in school every year.

One of your goals from now on is making time for what you care about and not letting your dreams whither and die.

Now look to your left and right and high five each other for finding one of the biggest treasures for growing up happy:

ENTHUSIASM

I sniffed a little and pretended to scratch my eyebrow to catch a tear while I told the sports story of the season.

Everyone shows up with expectations. Of themselves and others.

The ‘only’ child shows up hoping to see their busy parents more often.

The younger sibling child shows up ready to breath their own air.

Some kids only want to impress mom and dad; others want to show off for all moms and dads.

They all want to get out there and go as hard as they can.

That’s coach enthusiasm.

If a kid signs up and shows up, they get the drill and the go-ahead to run fast and have fun.

From a coach, that’s enough. At least this coach.

This is the field, that’s the goal, here’s a ball. Spread out and break into groups of three and create a triangle.

Kick the ball to each other, going around one way then the other.

Now move two triangles together and share the ball with each other.

Hey, look at you guys; you’re a soccer team.

Some of them stayed friends and teammates for the next thirty years or so.

Thirty years? I said it was “not long ago.”

Those who played sports through high school and beyond met different people who turned out to be not that different.

The Band

Over the past year or so I’ve been lucky enough to play bass guitar with a drummer and two guitar players.

How lucky?

These are the best musicians I’ve ever played with in a metal combo.

They are also guys from my teams and other teams.

Instead of a bunch of beginners testing the waters of early middle-age with nostalgia and a yearning for simpler times, these guys have been in bands and done band stuff.

Like travel.

It had been a while since any of them traveled to the band room, and when they did Sunday afternoon, it felt different.

I think we missed making time for each other. I did.

We tuned down to C# to start.

After three hours and a half-rack of Claw #1, I’d heard the most precise metal guitar work this side of a blue grass festival and a powerful drum beat taking charge and changing the texture of the sound, along with time and space.

What I didn’t hear was a bass amp because it died halfway through. I plugged into the PA.

I locked into the drums and found my way up and down the neck of the five string bass.

It felt like a band, a team with a recurring theme: Making time for music.

A Reminder For Making Time

I’m a blogger who shows up ready to go every day.

Read a few posts to get the gist of my work.

Instead of a drunk, high, self indulgent boomer, you get an honest effort at making life a little better. Nothing big, but an idea of ‘better.’

Since you’ve read this far it’s already better for you.

My advice, my directions, may help, but one thing is certain, it won’t hurt.

Why wouldn’t I give bad advice to good readers? I don’t want to take someone else’s job.

During my time as a caregiver for my ornery father in law I was asked why I went to such lengths to keep him going?

Selfishly I said, “Because I don’t want a depressed old man around. So I keep him cheered up, expecting something new all the time, something more fun than the last time.”

Even more selfishly, I didn’t want an old man to live with a depressed caregiver.

The effort you put into yourself improves the mood of those around you. Your changes may encourage them to reevaluate.

Don’t be surprised to hear, “I didn’t think I could change until I saw what you’ve done.”

Is that you? Which one?