Unplanned Moments--Day 4 of Gratitude

 I am grateful for wonderful moments, nice surprises, and unplanned memories that happen when we are not expecting them. It works to make them even more special. Such is the story of the pinecones.

 One of my sons played football for a small college in Kansas. The second year he played we got the nice surprise that the Air Force Academy was on his schedule. And it was an away game. I knew instantly that if my son was going to play against the Air Force Academy that I wanted to be at that game.

 We left for Colorado Springs on Friday evening after our high school son finished his football game. We met my parents and one of our daughters in the middle of Kansas and spent the night. We then headed off to Colorado Springs in the wee hours of the morning. We got there in plenty of time for the game. It was a cool, crisp, beautiful fall day. Their campus is breathtaking. The view from the football field was postcard-perfect.  There was a definite reverence about the place. We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of football.  My son had to drive back to his college with the team, but my parents, daughter and Hubs had the rest of the weekend to explore Colorado Springs. We went to the top of Pike's Peak, shopped all over Colorado Springs, ate at wonderful places and headed home on Monday (we had taken that day off of work). It was a wonderful weekend.

BUT before we left the campus on that Saturday afternoon, we walked around.  Right outside the football field, on all sides, were pine trees. I gathered up several sacks of pinecones and brought them home with me.
Now every single year in the fall when I get the pincones out, I think of the weekend that my son got to play football against the Air Force Academy and we got to visit the beautiful school and enjoy Colorado Springs for two days. What a great memory!