“You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.”

– Paulo Coelho

Today will be a day of adventure.  For Ivy, it will mark the first tournament as a member of her new basketball team.  It will be a day of taking the butterflies in her stomach and harnessing their energy so that it drives her through her games.  We will venture out to a new town, two new gyms, and two teams of opponents the girls never have met.  The energy that buzzes around the players is electric, and their excitement is something you can almost touch.

As I watch them prepare for their exciting weekend, I want to be infected by their wide-open approach to life.  I want to open my eyes and see the sights of a town I’ve never before visited.  I want to open my ears to the sounds of the day.  I want to open my heart to the experience of meeting new people who share our interest in girls and in basketball.

Wherever we end up today, let’s all pay attention — see, hear, taste, smell, and feel the world we live in.  Whether you find yourself in a new location or in the same old place, let’s try to see our world through excited eyes and greet it with our hearts wide open.  Every new day is an adventure,  if only we pay attention.