We are the Champions!

February is the month of red roses and valentines. In Kansas City it’s become the month of Red Everywhere all the time. Wear it, drink it, decorate it, eat it, because in case you needed reminding, the Chiefs are Super Bowl Champions, and the city has gone nuts again.

This is Union Station, filled with local history and worthy of a blog all by itself. The station is beautiful without any adornments, but it turns positively magical with the red glow of victory. Buildings both downtown and in the suburbs followed suit and lit up the sky with red.

This is what all the fuss was about.

Thanks to friends of friends, this is my close up of the Vince Lombardi Trophy, taken in a Kansas City moment when the Chiefs arrived back in town after their victory.

Then there was a parade, a big one, which we watched on television. Sadly or wisely, we are at the point in life where we look at these events and say “Where would we park?” or “How would we ever get out of there afterward?” So we live vicariously through younger folk like Faith and her friend and whoever that is with balloons along the parade route.

After the parade there was a gathering of 500,000 in front of Union Station for speeches by the owners and players and much carrying on. Congratulations Chiefs! After fifty years of drought, we’ve had two championships in four years. Wow! And I’m proud to say with all the celebrating there were only three arrests during the entire day. Three. Congratulations, Kansas City. You know how to do it right.

A footnote to last month’s blog about the importance of reaching out to friends and giving them a call. I read an article in the Wall Street Journal this week titled “A Radical Cure for Loneliness: the Phone Call.” Decades of research show that close relationships are the most critical component of health, happiness and longevity, more so than exercise and good diet according to a Harvard study.

I think we knew this, didn’t we? Or at least suspected it. Although my friend Cindy and I have exchanged an annual sorority letter since college, our last face-to-face was over ten years ago. What fun to surprise her with a phone call a few weeks ago. Foster those relationships and make that call. You’ll be so glad you did.

I’m taking a road trip to Council Grove, KS in two weeks for the fun of it and to continue research for Lila’s Song. Can’t wait. Until next time. . .