I prepare my portion of the discussion early on and so I can continue with this weeks study even though my heart and thoughts are filled with saddness and also gladness. The circle of life continues and we must also continue. Jewel always had a game plan! I believe this morning her game plan is to walk and talk with Jesus, getting caught up with friends and loved ones. It makes those here a little anxious to be on the other side. But the circle of life must be played.

11/19 My brothers were into football! Sometimes in the middle of the street we would get a
game of touch football going. I never understood the game but I wanted to be in the game so I allow myself to get pushed and hit and knocked around. Oh, how much fun we had! One afternoon a car came down the road. It pulled along side the ditch and a young couple got out of the car. She was wearing a flowered skirt with a white blouse and sandals. The man asked if they could play with us. I remember thinking how beautiful she was. I was probably 12!
I don’t remember how the game finished but I always thought how special it was to have this unknown couple stopping to join us kids in a game of touch football.
I remember Joyce and I had to get the dishes done in the evening before we could go out to play. The ball game across the street, on the corner lot, was already beginning. I would grab a dish to dry and run out the front door and watch and then run back in to put the dish away and grab another. Finally, we would be done and scurry across the street to get in the last half of the big ‘sandlot’ of a game.
When we were kids we had no trouble sleeping. We were so tired that when Mom said it was time, nobody complained or fussed about it. I don’t remember if it was easy to get up but I know that it was easy to go to bed. Today, kids have trouble sleeping! Once they get to sleep it is hard to get them up. Kids have lots of headaches and stomach troubles. As a kid I don’t remember ever having to deal with that. Physical activity was part of the daily routine and I believe it also gave our bodies a chance to function and process the way it should.
When my children were small we had a good size backyard. We had a swing set, a sandbox and lots of toys. I would allow the kids from the neighborhood to come into the back yard and play. My kids didn’t go out front to play up and down the street until Danny was almost 5. They didn’t need to because what we had, enticed the kids of the neighborhood to come to our house. I’m not saying that what we did was the best way but it kept our kids close to home and out of trouble. I often wonder about some of those kids that lived around us then and still do today.
Ecclesiastes says that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. The plan is to run with perseverance. If anyone was to ask me today what I thought, I would say, be creative and run to win. Always do your best no matter what the challenge! Don’t be afraid to lose, because it is how you run that matters. What is your game plan today? Jane Ann