I'm convinced that perhaps the most wonderful time in a string of a few days of off time is the day before you go back to work! Ok, maybe it's just me but I find the electricity of a Sunday morning (or a Monday morning for holidays such as MLK) to be amazingly vibrant. I mean, sure, Saturday is nice. Friday night, cool, time to go out and enjoy some time with friends. But it seems to me that it isn't until Sunday when I really start to appreciate literally...everything. I mean, I really don't think it's just me. I think it could be safe to say a lot of people feel the need to get up early on Sunday, get outside, and really move around. Nothing beats a Sunday morning on Swift Blvd (my current lane of paradise). The tree-lined street provides beams of penetrating sunlight and you are often greeted by a very warm couple also making sure to capitalize on such a beautiful site. Or how about the mom pulling her daughter in a wagon who is trying to figure just how it is that the leaf she is holding can manage to have such a beautiful shape. Sunday morning...
It seems like only on Sunday morning do I become amazed at the leaf that is blowing in front of me as I walk...or how about how perfectly the sun reflects off of the wet ground that has been soaked by one of Texas' often "bam bam thank you maam" rain shower that is often proceeded with the most perfect sunlight. I mean, every other day off is awesome as well but often am I occupied with other things/people...never really able to stare at a blade of grass and appreciate the fact that this blade of grass could have easily gone unnoticed. Perhaps I just need some more time to be my cookoo self.
It's as if Sunday is the day I really am forced to understand how good life really is. Well, Sundays along with Beethoven. Ludwig always reminds me of how beautiful everything is. All I have to do is put on a recording of his work and instantly...instantly...any cynicism in my body is dissolved by the warm sonorities of his masterful writing. Any doubt in my mind is erased by an unstoppable determination to proceed! Things aint bad.
I want to shift gears here and pay homage to a young man who is currently playing basketball for the TCU horned frogs. Now, it isn't very easy to watch the TCU basketball team on TV...well, quite frankly because they have sucked for most of the passed decade. However, as I was watching last weekend's Packers vs. Falcons playoff game, the bar I was at had another screen on with some obscure channel that was playing, of course, a Mountain West conference brawl between TCU and Colorado State University. It was then when a young man named Amric Fields caught my eye...such an impressive player that it inspired me to write about him. He is a 6'9'' freshman out of Oklahoma. Prior to this game I had no idea who he was but I noticed a long lengthy kid who was hustling to every lo0se ball, making steals, leading fast breaks and finishing strong at the rim, getting plenty of And 1's. I had to keep watching and the more he played, the more I was in awe of this kid....simply put, he is what us sports junkies would call a "gamer". A "gamer" is a very special player who plays hard, plays right, knows the game, and knows how to be a great team mate. I am absolutely confident we'll see this kid doing very solid things on the next level some day and I am just surprised at how TCU got him and how schools such as OU (close to his hometown) didn't land him. Amric Fields...remember this name.
ciao,
James
