“Never Trust People Who Don’t Have Something in Their Lives That They Love Beyond Reason”

I read this quote in the book, Beartown, and it’s so good, I had to share it with all of you.

Beartown, by Fredrik Backman, is a fictional story about a small forest town that is consumed by ice hockey.

I thought about it, and beyond the obvious, like loving your family and friends, most people are inexplicably passionate about something.

For me, it’s soccer. When I’m watching Jack play or a World Cup game, I am 100% in the moment. I don’t want to talk to anyone or think about anything else.

During the World Cup, I’m the weirdo who got up at 5am to watch two teams I didn’t even really know. I watched every game and screamed for every goal. Their joy was my joy and it’s exactly what the quote says about loving something beyond reason.

I’m the crazy soccer mom on the sidelines cheering for not only my son, but all his teammates. Last year, one of my good friends asked her son if he could hear when she and his grandma cheered for him and he said, “No, I can only hear Jack’s mom.”

I still laugh when I think about it and I have zero shame for my loudness. I also have multiple Soccer Mom shirts, sweatshirts and hats-my own little soccer store. I’m the mom who takes pictures of all the kids and has videos of their best moments.

I am very aware that my love for soccer is beyond reason, but being able to share it with some of my closest friends and family is magical.

For my son, playing soccer and watching football is his. He knows every player, every touchdown, every likely outcome and his entire fall revolves around football season.

His passion for football and possible outcomes enabled him to help his sister, who is in college, with her math homework. Mind you, he has never taken a statistics class, but running the odds every week for Fantasy Football inadvertently taught him to calculate probability. 

I’ll call that a win.

One of my best friends’ son plays ice hockey and I know she can relate all too well to the book, Beartown, to the amazing quote and mostly how it feels as a mom to be so insanely passionate about something that we live vicariously through our children.

Other people in my life have passions such as music, art, dance, languages, traveling, lifting, boating and reading. The list of possiblilties is endless, but the most amazing thing is to watch someone light up as they talk about what ignites their fire.

My kids and my friends are as different from one another as you could possibly imagine. But their innate passion for whatever is that moves them is a beautiful thing to watch and I’m so glad that they too, have something they love beyond reason.