Don't Count Us Out

I just witnessed the greatest comeback of the season.

The Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants tied 31 points each.  Fourteen seconds remained on the clock. 

The Giants rookie punter, Matt Dodge, entered the game with instructions to kick it out of bounds to take the crucial game into overtime.  The game that would decide the winner of the Division in the NFC East.

After a lackluster first half the Eagles were trailing by 21 points.  Many people may have turned off the game.  Many people may have dozed on the couch.  Many people may have counted them out.  

My husband is not one of those people. 

He hung in with the Eagles for every minute of the game.  He didn't doubt them for a second.  He believed wholeheartedly that they could and would comeback.

So as they dug in and turned things around score by score.  He was right there watching. 

Then came the final :14 on the clock.  Dodge punted the ball unbelievably into the open arms of Eagles receiver, DeSean Jackson who promptly fumbled the ball.  As he scrambled to recover I am reminded of my own fumble.  The time when I "dropped the ball."

And like Jackson, I did recover. 

He ran 65 yards against all odds, darting and dodging against the grain.  Hulking human hurdles hampered his progress but he did not falter.  He ran 65 yards with speed and agility, style and pizazz for the score.  The final numbers read 38 to 31.  The Eagles had done it.  They came back and they won. 

And when they did, my love jumped for joy.  He knew they could, he knew they would.  He believed in them, in the best they could be. 

And so it is with me. Even after my stretch of poor performance last year where I phoned it in as both a wife and a mother, he still believed that I could turn it around.  That I would turn it around.

It has been a long six months and I continue to scramble towards my own end zone.  I still sometimes stumble but with the help of some amazing blockers I have been able to recover my footing and keep running. 

He believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.  He saw through to the best that I could be.

We all make mistakes, some bigger than others, but it is how we choose to handle the fall out from our mistakes that separates the quintessential "men from the boys." 

When interviewed by Fox Correspondent, Pam Oliver, Jackson was still so flustered  that he said, "I have no words.  I fumbled the ball.  I don't even know what I was doing out there." 

Yes, he fumbled the ball and but he recovered and got the job done.  It's like that with a supportive team, all things are possible, and I am so thankful for mine.    They never counted me out.

I only hope Matt Dodge has someone who believes in him as much, because for him, tomorrow is going to be rough day.