Well here they are…..10 of my players, who I drove up to Northwestern University for a four-day lacrosse camp. Northwestern has a ton of National Championships and the players and coaches run the clinic, so it s a big bang (not to be confused with scientific theory) for our buck.

Had he not died in 1986, today would have been my grandpa’s 96th birthday. And to be very honest, I always believed he would be around this long. People in my family tend to live long and healthy lives…..thus, I was with my grandma (his wife) on Monday in Goshen. She is just 95!

One of the things about running behind is that you are behind…..and personally I hate that. Yet today, that is where I find myself, behind.

It seems I am an auto mechanic again, or at least a truck mechanic. One of the things about owning an old vehicle is that it often avails you the opportunity to fix it up. And of course I can look at a 1983 truck and actually see things I can fix without the need for a degree in quantum mechanics.

Really, yesterday was not all that bad…..it was rather good in fact. And one of the biggest blessings to me came when Mr. Gabe Lingenfelter got vested up and served in an acolyte robe for the first time. He had dabbled in it before, but we never had a robe the right size for him…..apparently we still do not. But he made the best of it and did a great job. It was very meaningful for him to do it on such a special day.

Yep, today I turned 50, and it was a pretty wonderful day, although I heard at my age you cannot trust my judgment. But what did I care??? It was my birthday.

Today is my Grandma (Tirman) Keenan’s birthday. She was my dad’s mom, and she died in Florida in the 1970’s. She used to call me her “Prince Valiant,” which she meant as a compliment, but only a grandma could love a kid with hair like that. She always called me Tommy too. And to my dying day (which is ALWAYS getting closer) I will regret the time I told her that I hated that name and to call me Tom. After all, I was 11 with Prince Valiant hair, and you clearly are no more together than that in life.

Tonight as my oldest son Scott turned 18 I was reminded of one of my favorite Peter Sellers quotes from “A Shot in the Dark” where as Inspector Clouseau he says to the bellboy, “Keep up this good work and very soon I will see to it that you become a bellman.”

Although we have had the worst record in my coaching tenure, tonight we said goodbye to nine players that I have a great connection to. Most of these girls I have coached their entire high school careers and they are important to me and I will miss them. Most will go onto play lacrosse in college, and I am proud of them all.