Just When We Were Wondering if Miracles Really Exist

They do, and I've got a story to prove it.

Over the years, fall has come to mean something to me other than crisp days and apples. It's the time of year when I start to see extra magazines around the house entitled, Fantasy Football Picks '08 and Football Pro Stats.

I also notice a general distraction in Eric, since his mind is WAY too full of roster possibilities and player stats to do things like say, "hello." Every time I talk to him it's clear that I've interrupted an important computing moment in his head.

And, inevitably, our calendar gets filled up with many long and grueling draft nights.

Yes, it's Fantasy Football Season. A season that only happens once a year, but that takes all of the brain cells and spare moments a guy's got in his life, leaving him to see the rest of the year as "recovery."

Well, the other day Eric announced that this year he is only participating in ONE Fantasy Football league. He said it with a cheerfulness only used when telling your wife something she'll be extremely happy about, but that causes you great internal pain. I didn't ask the why, I just took it as proof that good things happen to good people.

If you're thinking right now that THAT is the miracle, you're oh-so wrong.

Because the VERY NEXT DAY I picked up a phone call from an old friend with whom we've reconnected because we happen to have ended up in the same town.

You guessed it, he was calling to see if Eric wanted to join his Fantasy Football league.

THAT, my friends, is the miracle. Because it is nothing short of miraculous that a man can pick up on another man's pain from across town.

And to rescue him from the torment of a fall that doesn't contain the words drafts, rosters, picks and stats? Miracle. Nothing short of a miracle.