Bill and I witnessed some history yesterday.
The Gonzaga Women's basketball team notched its biggest win ever in the program history.
Final score: Gonzaga 96 -- Stanford 78
Stanford came into the sold-out Kennel undefeated at 8-0 and ranked 3rd in the nation.
Gonzaga's record, coming into the game was 7-2; as of yesterday the Bulldogs were unranked.
That could change.
It was a fun and exciting game from start to finish with the ZAGS never trailing after Stanford's initial basket, a 3-pointer.
From that moment on, the feeling that the ZAGS controlled the game never wavered.
They led at the end of each quarter, even by 20 points as they began the fourth quarter.
Besides a great game, we saw a few familiar faces from Sandpoint: our Selle neighbor Lynn and retired educators Tim and Sandy Ross and John and Marlene Rorke.
We also saw another retiree: Gonzaga's longtime athletic director Mike Roth, who says he's enjoying very little stress in his life these days.
Positive reports from my neighbor Terra, who came to the Lovestead while we were gone to give the dogs an outside break, helped us enjoy our day even more, and when we came home, the dogs were just fine and happy to see us.
No signs of anxiety yesterday in little Foster, which is great.
Bill and I stopped off at Sweet Lou's in Athol for dinner and when we came into the driveway, both agreed that it had been a fun afternoon going to the "big city."
I ran across the following article this morning and thought it fit well with our experience at Gonzaga yesterday.
Before reading this story, I already thought Kara Lawson was an impressive human being.
That assessment came after watching a video where she passionately spoke to her Duke basketball players about life being hard most of the time.
Her talk was so inspiring. At the time my aging, aching body seemed to be forsaking me so her talk hit such a chord that I wrote her a note. I needed a wake-up call, and Kara unwittingly provided it for me.
A couple of weeks later, I opened my snail mail box and found an envelope from Duke University.
Inside was a personal, very thoughtful and beautifully handwritten note from Kara Lawson.
As you can imagine, I shared the note with my family and have kept it as a treasure.
The story below mentions Duke playing Stanford (at the time ranked 6th) earlier this season, and it shows many layers of Duke's amazing coach.
I hope you have time to read it and to imagine what a day it must have been yesterday for another coach, Lisa Fortier, who, in her career with Gonzaga, was able to achieve what Kara is working toward in her own women's basketball program.
🏀🏀🏀🏀
In other news, it's the proper date to note that this blog has been published daily ('cept for about a week's time) for 19 years today.
Last week, the blog reached another milestone, which wasn't reflective of all 19 years but close enough.
Slight Detour's stat counter has registered 1 million visits.
These two milestones do cause some reflection, especially when I started it simply to help my brother promote his cartoons.
I never intended to keep going, but the morning discipline became a habit. I liked having to do some thinking and have always enjoyed the life of an observer.
So, posting on the blog became a regular part of my morning. Eventually people started checking in, many with their cups of coffee.
Over the years, the blog evolved into a blend of photography and snippets on life as I've experienced it each day.
I've tried but have not always succeeded in providing a positive touch to my morning and to that of others who follow the posts.
My friend Helen has been one of those, and she has generously followed each post with a little more scrutiny than most.
She's my editor, and she lets me know about the glitches that need to be fixed before too many people see the blog. I appreciate her so much as an editor and especially as a friend.
I have also appreciated both the support and the comments people have shared with me about what the blog means to them. It always surprises me that people actually enjoy it.
And, it makes me especially happy to share amazing achievements and experiences that are happening with my family, friends and former students.
We all need to be reminded that, no matter our age, life does offer great possibilities and that learning about these moments in others' lives often inspires us to "get off the couch" and go create something similar for ourselves.
I have no idea how much longer I'll continue this daily routine. As I've often said to Helen, some morning I may just come to the computer, open up the next blog posting and type "The End."
I'm sure there are a few who would prefer that to happen sooner rather than later, but for now, they can just switch the channel, and I'll continue to offer whatever inspires me.
Thank you for all your support.
1 comment:
You are something of a female Forrest Gump, aren't you . . . present at historic events. Congrats on the one million mark!
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