Moms, don't be Tom Brady

I have been avoiding this issue for so, so many months.  Let me come clean.  I love Tom Brady.  I love his chizzled chin and his piercing eyes and that stupid knit cap with a giant fuzzy ball on top.  But more than all that, I love the way Tom Brady loves the game of football.  His passion.  His competitiveness.  His MADNESS when his team loses and the JOY when he wins.  So, when the scandal began last year, I will admit, I ignored it.  I defended him.  I wanted to believe it was the weather that made all but one of the Patriot footballs deflate on that chilly day back in January.  I kepts telling myself it DID NOT MATTER if someone deflated the balls to make them easier to catch because they won by a mile.  Then they won the Superbowl and I really thought it would all go away.  It didn't.  Now I have to hear about how he destroyed his cell phone.  How Roger Goodall won't reduce the penalty.  How his LEGACY is going to be destroyed!!!  WHY??  WHY TOM, WHY?????  YOU WERE GOOD ENOUGH!!  YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DO IT!!

I say all of this with this little caviat in my brain.  Maybe he didn't really know.  Maybe he told his equipment guys to "get as close as you can to the limits" and they took it too far.  Really, totally possoble.  So there is a part of me that wants to believe he is still innocent.  Someone let the air out of the footballs, that much is for sure, but it wasn't Tom, and maybe, just maybe, he never really knew just how far it had gone.........................OK, but here's my point,

Moms, how often do we want our children to shine, just a little more than the next kid.  How often do we want our kid, who already gets good grades, to get better ones.  How many of us have helped with the 7th grade science project, just a little more than we really should, to make sure our kids shine at the gymnasium on that fateful Thursday night of Science Fair???  How many of us have drilled our kids on spelling words for that 100% in 3rd grade, when a 95 would have still gotten him moved up to 4th?  How many of us have told the lady at the BMV the weight listed on your drivers license is still accurate?  Oh, wait, that one is legit cheating.  Nevermind.

Indeed, one of the things I love about this country is that we love being the best, being number one.  But what we really love is getting there without shortcuts.  And while being number one is not something we can all have, being awesome is something within all of our reach.  I believe it is just a matter of focusing on what is the gift each of us is given.  Not all gifts are recognized on the national spotlight, but indeed, they are all recognized, even if just by a neighbor.  The whole DEFLATEGATE fisaco is an opportunity for all of us to just regroup, and focus on what is truly amazing about our kids.  The one who wakes up in the morning and tells the entire story of dreams, the one who never complains, the one who is so good at math and so bad at common sense.  Amazing, amazing stuff.  We can't all have the star quarterback.  But we all have a star.

Happy 2015 football season - LETS GO!!!