Life is so rich and beautiful that I often forget how rich and beautiful it is. The blessings come one after another, even when they put me back in the gym.

Which they do because my daughter made her school's basketball team. So did three of her friends--including her best friend, who is my favorite among her friends, who has been her friend forever, who is the very best and not just because she eats my cooking and says nice things about it.

Making the team puts me back in the gym with yet another opportunity to learn what off-sides looks like as my daughter does her thing on the team. In hear early Parks & Rec days, she was a little ball handler who moved up and down the court like a confederate runner so that the girls who were brawny enough to score did. Nobody expected her to do anything, but she caught them not expecting anything every time, and away she went. I had bleacher butt, but it was fun.

As she took up art and other things, I thought my butt would be spared the bleachers. No such luck. It's a good thing for all of us. Now I don't have to wonder about what to do on the weekends, and she doesn't have to worry about being bored. My daughter and three of her friends have penetrated the inner sanctum of the cool girls. Cool will never be the same. Neither will my butt. But Della got what she wanted because she worked for it. The big change is feeling good. We'll take it.