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August – Time for Football · 28 August 2010
It is August again. Time for all the high school players around the state and country to strap on their helmets and shoulder pads and get ready for battle on the gridiron. Time to get out all the kinks and get ready for Friday nights. Time for football.
Football season is a bittersweet time for me. I get to say hello to the new crop of freshmen and say goodbye to my family. I get to experience the strategy and tactics of football from the sideline, but never get to enter the fray. I get to feel the exhilaration of victory and the agony of defeat. Then, at the end of the season, I get to say hello to my family again and goodbye to the seniors. It is bittersweet indeed.
(Several years ago, I wrote a poem describing some of the imagery and emotions of the game. Under Friday Night Lights is in the window of my classroom and on my websites. I live it all season long, but decided not to repeat it here this year.)
Even with all its ups and downs, I love football season. I love the good times and bad. I love the adversity, struggles, angst, setbacks, and all the seemingly negative things that happen during a football season, because fighting through all the difficulties is what ultimately leads to victory. That ultimate victory is strength of character for all who are willing to finish the course.
That strength of character that is developed through struggles on the football field is the reason many a football coach says that football is like life. Some have even gone so far as to say that football is life. For me, football is a mirror of life. It shows us what character flaws we have and how we can overcome them through teamwork and individual effort. It makes us stronger mentally, emotionally, and physically if we are willing to work hard. When the players and coaches step onto the practice field, they run through drills and run through drills and run through drills. They practice, practice, practice. Those who start to love practice start to excel when they are under the lights. Those who trudge through and skip out on the pain and suffering start to wilt under those same bright lights. “Practice makes permanent,” is one of my favorite sayings from one of the coaches at my alma mater. I like to add, “You’ll start to get better, when you start to love to practice.”
Besides the repetition and practice, football mirrors life in its highs and lows. Without the lows, the highs would not be so meaningful. Without the pain and suffering, elation and victory are not possible. Life without sadness would mean life without happiness. Life without pain would be life without pleasure. I suppose that it is a bit cliché, but we need to take the good with the bad. Or as one of my brothers likes to say, “We need to take what we get and not throw a fit.”
I love football season. I love the highs and the lows, the ups and the downs. I really only hate the goodbyes. Those goodbyes to family and goodbyes to seniors. Thankfully, like most goodbyes, they are temporary. At the end of the season, I get to say hello again to my family again. And at the end of the school year, I often get to say hello to my seniors as graduates and friends. When all is said and done, perhaps football season is less bitter than sweet.
It is August again. Time for football. Time to get ready to be Under Friday Night Lights.
© 2010 Michael T. Miyoshi
Mini Vacations · 21 August 2010
We have had a great summer so far. We had a couple celebrations and went on a couple mini vacations. Most importantly, we have been together. Mostly.
Our first celebration was for our oldest son’s high school graduation. Thing 1 is ready to spread his wings and leave the nest, but we had to have a party to celebrate one of his first milestones into adulthood. Finishing high school is certainly not the greatest achievement he will attain, but it is one of the big firsts in his life. We took lots of pictures to remember the event. After all, soon he will be off to start his latest adventure – college and just being on his own.
We also had a second celebration. For Thing 1’s birthday. We pulled out all the stops and went to the Space Needle for lunch and then walked around Seattle Center for a while. Lunch and dessert were great and it was quite the step up from fast food or even a sit down dinner in town. Even though Thing 1 is afraid of heights, he conquered them long enough so that we had a great time viewing the scenery while eating and in the rotating restaurant five-hundred feet up. We took pictures everywhere we went and even though Thing 2 and Thing 3 did not have swimming suits, they got extremely wet playing in the fountain at Seattle Center. It was a wonderful day of just being together in a special place for a special occasion.
With another birthday/father’s day party and a Fourth of July get together thrown in for good measure (and lots of pictures to document the events), we maxed out our number of big celebrations in just the first few weeks of summer. But in my estimation, summer would not summer without at least some semblance of a road trip. Even if one member of the family was missing.
Our road trip and mini vacation encompassed a trip to Northwest Trek, Mount Saint Helen’s National Volcanic Monument, and Grandma’s house in Portland, Oregon. It was four days of fun on the road, seeing the sights, and, of course, visiting Grandma.
Northwest Trek is a Metro Parks Tacoma zoo that houses mainly northwest animals. Its 723 acres are split into two sections – a traditional zoo and a 435-acre free roam area. It is close to home, and like many folks, we do not often see the sights or do the touristy things near where we live. It was great to ride the open air busses and see the caribou, elk, deer, bison, mountain goats, and mountain sheep roaming around in the free roam area like we might have observed them in the wilderness long ago. As we rode along, there was one huge bull bison right next to the bus, and as we passed by, people were encouraged not to reach out and touch him even though they could. Thankfully, the bears, cougars, wolves, and other predators were not so free to roam, but had their own environments in which we could observe them. Our day at Northwest Trek was well worth the trip past Tacoma. Especially, since we got an up close and personal view of the reptiles and amphibians getting fed.
After a night in a hotel with a pool (a must for anybody with kids), we spent a day without video games in the car observing the landscape around us as we traveled to Mount Saint Helens. At first, we could see our goal, but as we got closer to the volcano, hills kept it from our view. When we got to our fist stop at the Elk Rock Viewpoint, we had a magnificent view. Just from the parking lot. Naturally, Thing 2 and Thing 3 went straight for the playground area instead of heading into the viewpoint visitor center to see what we could see. Unfortunately, the exhibit was closed during the middle of the week, but we still climbed to a couple telescopes and visited with a volunteer who came out even though the visitor center was closed. We took pictures and saw the volcano close up through the telescope and even spotted some elk with the help of our volunteer.
At the end of the road, we sat in the parking lot and ate our packed lunch like we did the day before. Then we made our way to see the volcano close up. The Johnston Observatory was marvelous and we even got to watch a movie. The kids made a seismograph go crazy by jumping up and down on the ground and we took lots of pictures both inside and outside the observatory building. It was great fun and even though my wife, The Mindboggling Mrs. Miyoshi, was sick of me taking pictures, I took some more on the road down from Mount Saint Helens.
When we got to Portland and Grandma’s house, everybody was ready to relax. The Mindboggling Mrs. Miyoshi wondered if I was going to get my quota of one-hundred pictures per day even while we were at her mom’s house. I almost made it just by taking pictures of the three generations posing to remember our short time together. I suppose I would have made the quota if I had taken pictures of our time in the pool rather than swimming and trying to keep my kids from drowning me.
All in all, our four day vacation was a successful time of new experiences. We ate well and saw some sights near home. The kids even fasted from video games. Even if it was just for a day. And we had a great time just being together. Both in the car and at our destinations. The journey and the time together were priceless and we have the pictures to remember them by.
Looking back, we have had a great time this summer being together (mostly) celebrating milestones and just living life together. We have seen some sights and taken the requisite (albeit short) road trip and logged it all with pictures galore. I look forward to the rest of the summer with my family even though we have already had to say goodbye to our eldest son. Life is not quite the same without him here day in and day out (like it was without him on our mini vacation), but memories and photos of celebrations, mini vacations, and just spending time together doing nothing will keep us all together in our hearts and minds.
© 2010 Michael T. Miyoshi
Servefest 2010 – One More Need Met · 14 August 2010
There are millions of needs in the world. After Servefest 2010, there is at least one less.
On Sunday August 8, 2010 at about 11:30, a scene similar to the one described below was unfolding at several locations throughout the Skykomish valley. Servefest 2010 was beginning.
“My name is John and I am from Cascade Community Church. Let’s introduce ourselves and pray before we get to work.” Introductions were made, a prayer for blessing on the work being done and the workers was delivered, then people either ate their lunches or set about to do their service projects.
People from New Horizon, Monroe Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Monroe Faith Center, Monroe Covenant, Monroe Community Chapel, Christ Church Monroe, Crosswater Community Church, and Cascade Community Church, as well as other people throughout the community introduced themselves to each other at this year’s Servefest sites. They were at locations throughout the valley doing service projects to show the world, or at least the local communities, that Jesus loves them.
All these churches closed their doors for the day (or at least for the afternoon) and the people went to work to meet a few needs in the community. They pulled weeds, painted, cleaned, and did all sorts of necessary work for the diverse organizations, including Take the Next Step, the City of Monroe, and the Monroe School District. This year, individuals were also aided in the upkeep of their homes.
When the day was over, people celebrated at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. The mood was festive and people talked about the different projects they worked on. They caught up with friends and acquaintances, enjoyed worship music together, watched a video highlighting the day, and kids bounced and slid on blow up equipment. Some people still had paint-stained faces and sore bodies, but everybody was happy that they could do important work for God and the community. While everybody came from different local churches, in the end, they all proved that God’s one true church can make a difference in the world. Even if it is just meeting one need at a time. Then again, meeting one need at a time is the only way any of the millions of needs in the world get met.
I, for one, am glad that I was part of Servefest 2010. I am glad that I met a few more people who are part of God’s church. And I am glad that I helped meet one more need.
© 2010 Michael T. Miyoshi
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