I suppose I did the same when we were in person. It’s likely, but I don’t really remember. I had been doing the same thing for so long, I am not sure I was conscious of it. But now, I am certainly conscious of the deep breath I take each day before clicking, “start meeting” on Zoom. It’s go time.

And though it was no less “go time” before with thirty live kids in front of me, it’s a different go time now. I don’t know the game. I am not sure that I can. I am not sure that I will. And so maybe that’s the big in the breath I take each day as I step onto the court, playing as if the title was on the line, only to discover I forgot to tie my shoes, tripping on my laces.

Okay, that’s a little hyperbolic and melodramatic. But there is the breath, that much is true. And though the title may not be on the line, there is much on the line, for I have to “play more positions” than I ever have to serve and support kids. It’s game day, every day. It’s go time, like the world depended on it…and, here I go again with the hype, but much does depend on my “game” as I daily check my laces one last time before facing kids whom I have never met, in an awkward arena, where someone forgot to turn on the lights.

No shoe deals. No cheerleaders. No highlight reels. Just a teacher and his love for the game, playing as if it mattered.

And the same game is being played out in arenas all over–teachers taking one last big breath, checking their laces one last time before stepping onto the court.

It’s go time.

Happy Thursday, all. Thank you for playing like it matters. It does.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.