Great Memory to Cheer You Up!

Posted: Jan 11, 08 10:59am

I was a junior in high school and my father was the coach of the boys high school lacrosse team. It was a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of April, a brisk, but sunny day that would prove to be a day I would always remember. That morning, the Newark Star Ledger came out with the top ten high school teams in boys lacrosse in the state of New Jersey. Our team was not on this list, but we were facing the number one team in the state, a much bigger high school that was expected to easily beat our squad.

With 13 seconds left in the game, the score was tied. Dad called a time out. He came up with a play where our defensemen would throw a long bounce pass up to our attackman, who would be breaking toward the ball. The other two attackmen would cut away from the goal and then back, looking for a pass, or, at the very least, keep their defensemen busy if the first attackman could beat his man and get a shot off. It was one of those very rare occasions when everything went according to plan. The long pass came down, the first attackman got the ball, beat his man and cut to the goal. The other two attackmen did their jobs and kept their defensemen busy. The first attackman got a clean shot off and the ball went in the goal with eight seconds left in the game. Our team won, 6-5 and pulled off a nice upset. That final play was really a team effort, as even a defensemen was involved in the play.

I was fortunate enough to be the one to score the winning goal, but what was great about the whole thing was how the final play involved the entire team working together and how it involved both myself and my Dad. It is something we were able to share. Having this memory that I can still share with Dad, who is now 76 years old, has been something that I have enjoyed for 31 years now. This is a little nugget that I bring out of the memory bank when I need to think of something positive.

How about you? I am interested in what great memories other people have that do the same thing for them.