A Winning Home Team

I admit it, I’m a football fanatic!

I grew up playing football in the backyard with my brother and his friends. In high school I was quick to play in the girls Powder Puff team. I always played Quarterback recognizing the position offered the opportunity to always touch the ball and to call the plays. My favorite was long and left but I also enjoyed coming up with sneaky plays. I was pretty good, my teams won often, and I can still throw a decent spiral a good distance. I wasn’t always graceful though, I once broke my finger playing catch with my then 13-year-old stepson; I wore my splint as a badge of honor. I also sport a nice dent in my shin from where I was running with the ball and attempted to leap over a picnic table in a church scrimmage game only to catch my leg on the bench and go tumbling over it instead.

May scrimmage days are far behind me but football is still one of the few reasons I turn on the TV. I love fall not just for the changing colors and the cooler temperatures but the opportunity to become engrossed in college games on Thursday evenings and Saturdays and the NFL (the professional league for those who don’t follow the game) on Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings.

In my house, my love for the game is not shared with my husband. That’s right, I fell in love with a man who could care less about the game. His sports are boxing and motorcycle racing. I’m the one carrying on screaming at missed tackles and whooping at touchdowns while he’s wishing the season would end already so his normal wife would return. But there is one thing about football I truly enjoy as a mom and a wife that he also gets—how the whole team works together to attain a single goal. Everyone has a part to play in the success even those sitting on the bench who are vital during practices.

As a family we all need to do our part from mom and dad to the youngest family member. My husband doesn’t have to be a football fanatic like me to appreciate how important it is for every one of us to be contributing, neither does our daughter. Especially if we want our “team” to accomplish common goals like everyone owning a chore so we can take care of our home, all of us agreeing to put off small purchases so we can save for a dream vacation, or each of us committing to planned family time so we can do things together instead of only talking about them. These are wins I’d take any day and the marks they leave behind are those I love to brag on such as shared memories.

How about you? How does your home team work together? I’d love to hear from you!