It’s 11:30 PM, and I am back at it.

The TV is on to ESPN 2- the Lobo football team, after a blowout loss to Fresno State last weekend (38-0), is hanging around, trying to catch Colorado State. It’s late in the 4th, and CSU just went up ten on a field goal kick. And I am reclining on the couch, watching it.

If it’s sports with a local team playing on TV, and I am home in a quiet house, I just do that. The TV comes on.

Which means, to a great extent, I turn my mind off.

There is a commercial played in a break in the action, and an elderly couple leaves- moves out of- their estate home in the country to an apartment in a city to be near their grandchildren.

It flashes through my mind: I’ll never have grandchildren.

I push the thought aside after a quickened pang passes.

Life.

Decisions.

Good and poor choices.

I often wish I had children my parents could have helped raise. Or, actually, just enjoyed getting to see grow up. Thankfully, my siblings have children that they can dote on.

The game is back on. College kids with steely forms dash around on the green turf. The clock keeps ticking. The time is getting late.

Can the Lobos pull it out, and get a win for the home fans in the stadium?

When it is getting late and you are close to maybe winning but also close to maybe losing, it is hard to watch what will happen next.

And often, at that point of time in the game, it is an ideal time to take a time-out.

Stop the clock for a minute.

Come up with a plan to make the most of the minutes you still have left in the game.

You have to manage the clock at this point of the game.

And stay focused.