[ckissick]

Last Wednesday, just three days ago, a friend died unexpectedly. He was also the coach of my daughter's all-star soccer team for girls under 12 years old. On Thursday morning I heard about my friend and went through a sad, rough day. That evening, I took over his coaching duties.

Although our team is an all-star team, so are the other teams we play from other towns. We're from a very small town compared to the others, and we've never been much of a match against them. We decided to practice on Thursday, knowing that's what my friend would have wanted. But his daughter stayed home with her mom. We practiced again on Friday, then had our game this morning.

I and the other coach just told the kids that our friend would be happy to see them play their best. It wasn't about winning. We were afraid to ask for a win. After all, the closest game we'd had all season was a 4-0 loss, and we hadn't even scored a goal all season.

The game started with my friend's daughter playing forward. It was nice to see her out there on the field, with her mom in the stands. It was a minor miracle, however, when she scored the team's first goal of the season late in the first quarter. She scored again in the second, and we went on to win 4-0. The girl's played their hearts out and brought out a lot of tears of joy in the stands. I felt better than when my beloved Giants won the World Series.

Just when things are looking their worst, wonderful things can happen. Thanks for the big win, Tidal Waves. And thanks for the extra help from above, Gary.