Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Since you asked:
The way Brett Favre's Green Bay Packer teammates played so hard for him following his beloved father's passing – pulling down touchdown catches despite double and triple coverage - reminded of me of when my Father passed away.

My dad sang in the church choir, so, before his funeral service, we asked the choir if they would please sing hard and– as my Dad loved to say – blow the lid off the dump. The memory of their soaring voices still haunts me.

During that Monday Night game, my five-year-old daughter, Ann Caroline, was listening intently to the announcers discuss how Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre had just lost his father. I sort of cringed, because, like all kids her age, Ann Caroline is both fascinated and terrified of the topic and sometimes the questions about death can go a tad longer than my ability to answer them.

Not this time. Announcer Al Michaels had just remarked at how sad it was that Brett’s father had passed so close to Christmas.

Ann Caroline looked at me, and her mother, and asked;

“Are the angels going to make sure his dad has Christmas in heaven?”

Here’s hoping for a little heaven in your Christmas and Holidays, Torn Slatterns and Nugget Ranchers