This is a Daily Moment—short perspectives on life and times through a dad’s eye.
November 21, 2021
Yesterday I drove down with my family to my old university in Bloomington, Indiana, for an IU vs. Minnesota football game. We had gotten some free tickets, I hadn’t been there in years, and it seemed like a good excuse for a day trip.
It was nice to be back. As I looked around, some things were different—a few new buildings, a whole new generation of 18 to 25-year-olds stumbling around drunk—but otherwise it felt pretty much the same.
At one point, they started throwing t-shirts from the field up into the stands. My kids, who were excited to get free stuff, ran down to the front rows to try to catch something. Shirts came whizzing by, and some came close, but in the end my kids came up empty-handed.
As they were walking back up the bleachers to our seats, a woman leaned over and handed them a shirt she had caught. It was too big for either of my boys, but they got their shirt. I would guess that lady already had a closet full of IU gear, and she realized she’d never end up wearing this one. But for my kids, it was more than a shirt, it was another memory of their day at the football game.
It made me ask myself, as I ask you: What are you holding onto that you never use, but that could really brighten someone else’s day?

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