Just Do It

I know I've told you once or twice or forty-eleven times that I am not a TV watcher as a general rule, but I do make exceptions. Watching Tiger Woods play golf unequivocally qualifies as an exception to my self-imposed rule. You can imagine my extreme excitement when he came up with that dramatic win at Torrey Pines last week, followed by my utter despair when he announced that he would miss the rest of the season in order to undergo reconstructive surgery of his ACL. Sorry, but that just doesn't work for me, Tiger. As enjoyable as I find watching Phil Mickelson crash and burn (I'm so sorry, I know that's mean-spirited but I just can't seem to help myself where "Lefty" is concerned), it's just not the same.

Believe it or not, neither Tiger Woods nor Phil Mickelson has anything to do with the point of my post (and by now I would imagine that's not hard for ANY of you to believe). I was just thinking that because I don't watch TV much, my frame of reference is fairly narrow and it could be that Nike's famous catchphrase has been applied to many a gifted athlete. For me, however, Tiger owns the phrase, "Just do it," especially after the 2008 U.S. Open. (Can I get an Amen??!) And it was that very mindset that got me to thinking today as I drove home in what had to be 120-degree temperatures inside the car.

See, today was the second day that I was out for an extended period of time in weather so hot, it pretty much takes your breath away. For a while I got by with telling the kids, "Oh, we're just not used to the heat yet. By next year this'll be nothin'." Ahem. Turns out that the way most native Texans deal with the heat is . . . well, they pretty much stay indoors from July through September. O-kay.

Unfortunately, staying indoors yesterday was not an option (and we won't even talk about the fact that it's not even July yet). A group of us met at the church building to canvass the neighborhood and hand out fliers for our Vacation Bible School. We walked from the hours of ten until noon, and I don't think there was a one of us who didn't believe we had to be just a little bit insane to be doing what we were doing. The heat was so intense, we could have roasted marshmallows WITHOUT a bonfire. But even when I was ready to throw in the towel, I kept saying to myself, "Just do it."

Tiger would be so proud.