Happy Sunday and Happy Father’s Day! 😃

For many years now, I haven’t been that invested in professional sports. I barely followed what was happening with my local Boston teams, despite sports in the area being pretty much a religion. Well, a few things happened over the past couple weeks that made me pay attention. I found pure joy in sports,

The first, as you can probably guess, is the World Cup. What we’ve been witnessing, both on, and especially off, the field has been nothing short of what feels like magic. If your algorithm has been anything like mine, you’ve seen the coming together of people from all over the world. And they’re coming together to share the love of their culture with anyone open to learning and experiencing it. They’re coming together to share drinks, and food, and music, and dance, and at the foundation of it all is a happiness and joy that feels like a much-needed breath of fresh air.

I will be honest. My knowledge of soccer is pretty much non-existent. So much so that when my people, Cabo Verde, were fiercely celebrating a 0-0 ending, I didn’t get it. I know, I know. But I quickly found out just how significant it was. My point is, that we don’t need to understand soccer to get what’s happening in our communities and around the world. If you’re reading this and you haven’t gotten into the spirit, I have some links below in the Good News to show you just how great this joy has been.

Another sporting event that I didn’t expect to care about at all was the Knicks winning a World Championship. One of my best friends is a die-hard Knicks fan, and when I tell you, when he cried, I cried. I was so happy for him. And knowing how deep the Boston/NY rivalry has been over the years, I was shocked at how happy I was for the people of New York. Their happiness made me happy.

And on a much smaller scale, only as far as the world is concerned, but I was at my nephew’s baseball championship finals. He doesn’t show his excitement too much, so being able to capture this moment was incredible. So happy for him, and his teammates. May we all have moments like these of happiness.

If you’re into sports, I know you’ve had these feelings before, but I’m thinking that even if your team has won the World Series, or the Super Bowl, or any other championship, something about what’s happened this week in sports feels different. Of course there are winners and losers in the games, but what is happening in the streets, and in bars, and communities all around the world have given me some much-needed hope. I hope it’s done the same for you.

Wishing you a fabulous joy-filled week!

Positively yours,

Pebbles 💜