Bright Spot

Photo: L. Weikel

Last night’s sky just kept producing hit after hit. As I wrote about yesterday, the rainbow dog we encountered before we set off on our walk was a definite bright spot. But the truth is, a mere half an hour after witnessing the rainbow dog, we were treated to yet another scene of remarkable beauty.

This feels like it’s going to be my shortest post yet. I want to share the photos I took of the clouds seeming to reach out like a hand, beckoning us into the west, into the sunset. And obviously, I am sharing them now.

But I have nothing to offer as far as additional thoughts or perspectives.

Super Bowl

Of course, given the relentless hype we’re all exposed to in one way or another, you would be hard pressed not to have at least tangential awareness that the Super Bowl took place today. If you like football, it was a fun game to watch. It’s great when the teams are reasonably well-matched and both playing to their potential. There’s nothing worse than a boring blow out – except perhaps a tedious game of back and forth defense in which neither team can manage to score.

One of the best parts of tonight’s game was watching the reaction of the players after the win. Every year, of course, the winning team is jubilant. But this year it seemed like the winners, the Rams, had a sweetness about them. It was a treat to see these big guys sporting even bigger grins, allowing tears of joy to spill down their cheeks. I was surprised to see so many of them expressing their emotions with abandon. They didn’t care about appearing ‘macho.’ Or if they did, they clearly felt that tears of friendship and elation and a realization of a dream come true are totally ok to express.

So many of them have families, too. And as happy as they were in their post-game elation – and complimentary of their teammates and coaches – you could tell that what mattered most was sharing the moment with their partners and children.

This team felt like they exemplified a more old-fashioned love for what they do and why they do it. I saw and heard what looked and sounded like a genuine humility. We rarely see that anywhere anymore. Their smiles and tears were the bright spot of tonight.