“Hey coach,” my friend said with a fucking smirk on her face. I was making my way to the main office after fixing a potentially expensive error on one of the school’s servers, so I was feeling both relieved and stressed when I saw her, and I rolled my eyes and smiled. “You’ll do good,” she said, and right on cue, the group of middle school boys began walking down the hall and toward the cafeteria. It was lunch time, but what I needed was an ice cold beer, but seeing these kids again and even my friends was enough of a salve for my frayed nerves.

The night before, the school board hired me to be the assistant middle school football coach. I have never coached anything in my life, but last month I mentioned it somewhat offhandedly that I wanted to coach something during this upcoming school year, and I believe that once I put something out into the Universe, the Universe listens and answers back. I’m now a football coach and first practice is on Monday.

I have no idea what I’m doing, but I believe I’ll have fun. And when the people around me tell me that I’ll do a good job, I have to listen and believe them, right? So let’s go.

A normal day, and considering the craziness of the last week, I’ll take it. Went to work and enjoyed the drive and appreciated the routine and I felt grateful for everything. Sometimes it’s good to lose something to appreciate what I had, and I appreciate what I have, from my car, sure, but also my friends, my family, my job, and the fact that I’m breathing. This breath matters, and so does this one, and I can’t lose sight of how lovely that is.

My car is fixed and back in my possession. Even though the repairs were expensive, I didn’t care. Simply driving it back home brought tears to my eyes. I missed it. I really really missed it.