Thoughts on being champions...

Saturday night our football team became state champions  by virtue of hard work and practice and devotion of many dedicated men who are coaches and a team of young men who are athletes.

The excitement was palpable, the air charged with that electricity of a big thing about to happen.

The community at large and the devotion of a small town to her youth was impressive.

Nerve wracked parents... fathers who played a generation ago, with faces so full of emotion...

a student section, both pensive and wild in anticipation, cheerleaders with pom poms...

folks for whom this was a first ...

and folks who have seen a lot... who have been in this place before.

I recall a time, more than 30 years ago, when, in the aftermath of a state championship game, I got bear hugs and kisses from a football player, who became the man that I would later marry.

I know what these memories mean.

 .

May they enjoy the victory

and carry with them

the amazing feeling of being champions as they go.