Carpe Diem!

It’s Super Bowl Sunday and over the past week, I have been thinking about the life lessons that the sport of football has taught me. This year, the lesson has been carpe diem-seize the day, take advantage of the moment!

For about the past twelve years, we have been season ticket holders with the Baltimore Ravens. As such, we are able to purchase playoff game tickets and are placed in a lottery should the team ultimately make it to the Super Bowl. I always dutifully purchase my playoff tickets, send my son and usually my husband (if he is not working) to the game while I sit at home in my cozy family room and watch the game in the warmth of my home.

I’m a sports fan, but I am quite literally a fair weather fan. I enjoy watching football games but not as much as I enjoy staying warm and dry! So I buy the tickets and send others off to the stadium. It makes for a nice quiet house in which to watch the game.

As it turns out, this year, I won the lottery! Yes, I won the opportunity to purchase two tickets to the Super Bowl! My son was elated, he desperately wanted to go, but my husband was scheduled to work that weekend. I was not personally thrilled about spending the weekend in New Orleans, and mentioned to my son the possibility of selling the tickets. I had noticed on Stub Hub that they were already selling for more than twice their face value.

My husband and I discussed the situation and were leaning towards listing the tickets for sale. I packed up my bag and headed to the university to teach my classes. About halfway there, I picked up the phone and dialed the home number. We needed to do something. After all, when was this opportunity going to present itself again? Maybe my son could find a friend to go with him, maybe I could travel with him to New Orleans. When would the Ravens be in a Super Bowl again, when would the Harbaugh brothers be matched up in a game like this again? We had to seize the moment!

My husband picked up the phone and said, “You know, I’ve been thinking.” We still had enough time that he could request the weekend off, surely another pilot would be willing to fly his trip that weekend. My husband had decided that this shot at a Super Bowl game was too amazing to pass up. He was thinking the same thing I was!

So on Friday, my boys headed to New Orleans to witness a history-making football game. The Harbaugh family will head home victorious either way, and Super Bowl rings will be distributed to another winning team. This was definitely the year to carpe diem!