Our middle grandchild, Lindsay, 11, is heavily involved in many activities in her town, as are her brother and sister.
Not so very long ago, her travel basketball team was slated to play a weekend game in a neighboring town.
The game was cancelled. That very same week, the young killer went on his rampage in Newtown, Conn.
Almost a month to the day later, Lindsay’s team made the short trip over to play the rescheduled game.
Lining the road into Newtown were little, wooden cutout angels, each with the name of one of the victims on it.
The coach of the Newtown team gave each member of Lindsay’s team green wrist bands with the town’s name written on them. A special keepsake.
Lindsay’s team did well in the first half, clearly better than the Newtown girls.
But, almost inexplicably, the tide turned in the second half. And like in the movie, the underdog, the sentimental favorite (understandably so), surged into the lead and … won the game.
Sarah, Lindsay’s mother and our older daughter, told us that Lindsay was upset at losing, especially since they all thought the Darien team was better.
In an insightful and compassionate understanding of the larger picture, Sarah said, “Lindsay, don’t you think they needed to win more than you did?”
And that made things seem a whole lot better.
There are times when losing is winning.