Life is full of moments.
Let’s be real here for a moment — life has ups and downs. There’s a lot of negative out there and everybody goes through times when they wonder if life is ever a good thing.
But the moments …
I know many people will be obsessively happy. I try and consider myself — for the most part — a pretty upbeat and positive person who is more often than not pretty happy. But life isn’t easy.

The shot that ended up in the goal for Nicole.
It’s the moments that get you through it.
A few weeks ago, while working on a personal project, a friend spoke with me about making moments. Now, that talk was about professional wrestling, but it can easily be shifted over to life itself.
Moments is what get people through life.
When talking about moments, it can be anything — big or small. There are those times that people can never take away from you, no matter what.
This past weekend, my niece played in the NJCAA Division III national tournament for women’s soccer. The end result wasn’t what they wanted as they didn’t win the championship.
Obviously, there were some upset people with this result.
However, it’s the moments you’ll remember 20 years from now.
Life — like sports — is full of wins and losses. Despite society and youth sports making sure everybody should get a blue ribbon, it isn’t reality.
Not even close.
Everybody won’t win. Everybody doesn’t get a trophy. But everybody has a chance to make moments.
The women’s soccer team for SUNY Broome made moments this weekend by being at nationals. The team made a moment by winning a breathtaking 1-0 game in their opener to reach the semifinals. The team made another moment by finishing third in the country.
And my niece, Nicole, had a moment nobody can ever take away from her. In that opener, she scored the lone goal to give the team the 1-0 victory in the first game. I couldn’t have been more proud.
The second game, in the national semifinals, didn’t go as well with Broome falling to Brookdale, 3-0. Brookdale, by the way, made a moment on Sunday by winning its third straight national championship. If you are going to lose to a team, it might as well be to the national champs.

Battling for a ball during nationals.
Life is all about the moments.
In the third-place game, Broome dominated regional rival Herkimer (which entered the tournament as the No. 1 team in the nation and the top seed) to win, 3-0. Nicole had two assists in the game and earned all-tournament honors.
Moments.
Sure, there were some tears after losing in the semifinals. But what this team accomplished this weekend is something to be amazingly proud about. Nobody can take the moments away from them and what they did. Twenty years from now, the moments will remain vivid. The results are a fact of history. But the moments will be what you continually smile about and always remember.
Live for the moments.
Always.
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