#47 - Riggins: Happy 8th Birthday

Happy Birthday Riggins, would have turned 8 today. I love and miss you more than words can describe. Trying to live with clear eyes and a full heart without you buddy. I love you and miss you always.   Clear Eyes The ability to see what needs to be done, an understanding of what the problem or challenge is. In the sports world it is knowing your assignment, what you have to do and understanding what your teammates are doing while reading the changing situation that plays out in front of you. The ability to not get distracted by less important things. Like another player's trash talk or a mistake made on a previous play. The ability to not be thwarted by what we think we know to be true, diminishing the ability to take in new information so we can better see what is in front of us.    Full Heart Strong and sustained effort. Picking yourself up and moving forward when you get knocked down. The attitude that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% what you do about it. Being all in and committed. Loyal to those you share the challenge with. Keeping the balance between one for all and all for one. It is the grit that when you are losing you at least slow the process down so there is less ground to make up when coming back. It is having pride in what you do. It is respecting the effort and talents of others even when they might be our competitor.    Cant Lose It is valuing effort even when we fall short of our hopes and expectations. We might lose the game, lose the girl, not get the promotion, be dissapointed in the end result. Recognize that clear eyes and a full heart breed success in many ways perhaps not visible to the connections with others that you might not realize until long after the experience, or perhaps never at least in this life. It improves our ability to win the next game and if we do not win the effort improves who we are.    -Steve Sawyer