All posts by Kirsetin

Winning Isn’t Everything, But It’s Winning

sports

As every grade-school athlete can tell you, it’s more fun to win than it is to lose.  Yes, it’s true, winning isn’t everything.  We learn a lot from defeat.  We learn how to dig deep and push hard; we learn the the importance of teamwork; we learn what perseverance means.  And when you’ve experienced the the bitter taste of losing, winning is all the sweeter.  This is true for kids of any age who really love to play a sport.  It’s true for my children, it’s true for the kids I coach, it’s true for me.

And even though we weren’t the ones playing last night, the win was awfully sweet.

Thanks, Packers.  And Aaron Rodgers, you’ve earned your stripes and done away with any lingering doubts:  you’re the man.  Go Pack Go!

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Tucker, Faithful Lab

pets
It was the mid 90s….

1/31/1996.  Fifteen years ago today I was pregnant with our first son, and although I didn’t know it yet, it was also the day our very first puppy was born.  A week or so later we visited the farm where his mom–a yellow lab–and his dad–a black lab–spent their days.

It was so hard to choose!  We watched and fell in love with the tiny little pups who tumbled over one another, all tospy-turvy.  Finally, we knew the one that would be ours.  The farmer, who had been breeding for years, marked his ear with pink nail polish, so we’d know for sure he was ours when we returned.
In March, we brought him home, and we called him Tucker.  Oh, he was cute!

He found a favorite spot in the kitchen,
and waited for the baby to come, right along with us.
In August, our first baby joined us,

and Tucker learned a new trick.

Over the years, Tucker would be joined twice more by little babies, and he was never happy about it that first week after a new infant showed up.  Those boys loved him, though, and after a week he loved them right back.

Of course, they didn’t have a monopoly on the dog love.

He made it 13 long years, and we really loved him.  We miss you, good dog.

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