You all know that I am a huge college football fan. Yazmin
Hatcher, registration representative in Mountainside, suggested that we have a
few “Football Fridays.” I love your FUN
FAN spirit Yazmin! Every Friday this fall (Sept-Nov) you can dress in your
favorite football team gear – college or professional – and of course wear your
jeans.
I bet some of you are asking, “Why are you such a big fan?”
I love college football because even at a place like Alabama
─ which is all football all the time ─ the players are still
kids. Managing classes, their first time away from home, maybe even their first
real love and heartbreak. They are still real people – not superstars like the
pros, but just normal folks who happen to play ball.
You see tremendous dedication and work ethic. You also see
entire groups of people wrap themselves around the team – an outpouring of
emotion with each win or loss.
In many ways I liken it to the work we do here. We rally
around the children we serve, cheering their every accomplishment in the face
of tremendous challenges. They and their families often have to have super
human strength to stare down the life that could be before them and find the
hope to believe that with hard work, the victory – however it is defined – can
be achieved.
I love all of the different emotions you feel when your
team, or child we are privileged to treat, gets through their season or
finishes their time with us. There are tears, laughter, high fives, and just
pure joy when a goal is achieved. There is also sadness and disappointment when
we fall short but we hold ourselves up with hope… that there will always be
another season.
For our kids, we hope that there will be one more new
treatment or break through, and until that point we just keep doing our best.
Who are you rooting for this season?
