The Set Of Her Jaw; The Glint In Her Eye

Earlier tonight, I received a text from Miss Emma's parents from down in Fort Lauderdale. She is down there for the AAU Karate National Championships. Emma earned two bronze medals. One in weapons and one in sparring. That's third in the nation in two events!

Up until just a couple weeks ago, I thought I would be in her coach's chair today, but life has a way of working out sometimes that keep things from happening.* So I was really happy to get that news. I know how hard it is to train for the Nationals, and I also am well aware of the time that she put into preparing for today. Congratulations, Miss Emma!

[Emma, send us a picture of you with your medals in Ft. Lauderdale and I'll post it here.]

Over the past couple of weeks, it's been my pleasure to hit some of your baseball games. Thanks for the invitations and keeping me updated when schedules change. I'm glad I got them in while I had a couple weeks where it was possible.

Oh, and I also had the honor of getting to see Patrick H. (5-1 '08-'09), who had moved away to North Carolina, come back and play in a soccer tournament up here at Grand Park. When I heard he was back in town, I made sure to get up there to see it.

Here's a quote from President Teddy Roosevelt that sums up my thoughts on the matter:

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
                                                                      --President Theodore Roosevelt

Well done, everyone! Don't ever stop. 


*(Luckily my plane ticket is transferable.) (And, by the way, don't worry. It wasn't any big deal that led to my not going--I'm totally healthy, not in trouble, etc. Just one of those "life got in the way" things.)