Crazy routine- delightful and unexpected!

Two phrases stuck out to me when reading my daughter's blog last night:
http://www.foreignheart.blogspot.com/
(please excuse the shameless plug)

"....routine.......crazy"

"..delightful, unexpected, life things..."

So, because she was asking for guest writers for this week (and it's already Thursday), and because I am enjoying a wonderfully relaxing day while my students are at an honor choir, I am sharing this tiny space of ...space... with her.

At some point in everyone's life, if they are productive and passionate and purposeful, (please note alliteration- I worked very hard at that), they find out that, oddly enough, routine and crazy actually work out very well together. The key is realizing that each have their time and place, and knowing when to roll with routine and rock with crazy. Flexibility! Those of us who are control freaks have a hard time with this, but believe me it's one of the most valuable lessons to learn in life. Side benefit: aids in learning to trust our Heavenly Father!

Which leads to the second phrase rolling around in my head. If we are flexing, trusting, rocking, and rolling, we will discover "delightful, unexpected, life things!" Those serendipitous moments that push us out of our routine and into crazy. Those "out of control" things that happen when we least expect it, but we learn to cherish because of their infrequency. Things like unexpected compliments, deep conversations, touching compassion, random acts of kindness, surprise encounters.
Enjoy your crazy routine, my daughters. In it you will find the delightful and the unexpected.

Coaching

I've been thinking a lot about coaching the last couple of weeks for a couple of reasons.


First, my oldest son is in his first season as head football coach in a large school in Michigan. They are in the State Playoffs, and are 2 games from playing in the Championship game in Detroit on Thanksgiving weekend. We talk a lot about getting the most from our students, about preparing them to do their best, teaching them skills, about motivating them, pushing them, helping them to reach their potential when they have no idea what that is. We have a lot in common. Which is why the back of my musical shirt says: Coach.
We had a great conversation last night. He was telling me about the things he was doing to prepare his team for their big game Friday night. Things like: practicing at a school that has turf and setting a curfew and giving nutritional guidelines to parents. In the beginning of the season, the boys were unsure about their new coach. He had a lot of schedules and requirements. He was disciplined and organized and he expected them to be. He accepted no excuses and pushed them. Hard. But now they trust him because they have been successful. They will go to bed early, eat the food on the list, and show up ready to play because they trust him and they know that everything he asks them to do is important. Wow does that sound familiar.
As I think about Bye Bye Birdie, I remember the schedules and the requirements and the expectations and the discipline and the organization. And every one of those things are important for the success of the show. Every piece of the puzzle is calculated to culminate in a show that we are prepared to perform and can be proud of. Thank you, parents and students, for trusting me even when you weren't sure that what I was asking was all that important. Thank you for digging down deep to respond when I kept pushing you. Thank you for paying attention to detail. Thank you for helping each other. Thank you for making my job so enjoyable. Thanks for the memories of our oh-so-wonderful Bye Bye Birdie production. It was a joy.