Beautiful Game

Dear Koko, 

Seeing as the end of another year is round the corner, I am in a pensive and philosophical mood. So you have to put up with it. 

I have this box of currency which I had started building many many years ago. It is a tin box full of coins from different countries. These coins and bills have been made in a far off land, but they are sitting in a dark corner in my closet. I bring them out sometimes and stack them into neat piles, try and remember how I got them and them put them back in. For a brief moment, I am floating above my daily woes and am transported to a different land almost. I had forgotten how much joy this seemingly simple activity gave to me. 

This year when the FIFA World Cup started, it was a similar experience. You have taken a keen interest in football, but I think this is thanks to your obsession with PlayStation. So when you would say that you want to stay awake to watch matches, I would laugh. Staying awake at night and watching matches was something I had done a long long time ago, I had almost forgotten the adrenaline, the mad rush, the feeling of being absolutely alive. For those few weeks, I did not care about what was to be cooked, or the grocery inventory, or home work, or anything at all. There was an all consuming passion which filled our days and nights. 

Thank you for being my midnight partner in watching football. Thank you for insisting that we stay awake to watch the matches. I enjoyed every minute of it - of cheering on underdogs, of learning the life stories of footballers who are to be your heroes, of disagreeing, of supporting opponent teams and of the bone crushing hand holding during penalty shoot outs! Each and every moment of it was special. 

It was great to see that the love for Croatia  that grew in me post 1998 found echoes in your support for Morocco and Japan. It was so heartening to see you root for Lewandowsky and go crazy when you got a jersey with his name. It is wonderful to see you appreciate the beautiful game not just in your monitor but also actually playing it. This year saw you play your first friendly match. Seeing you participate in  a team sport so early on and picking up the great values that come with it is amazing. But most of all, it was great that I rediscovered my passion for the game. There was a gap of a few years, but it was amazing to find the lost love again. Thank you. 

Love,

Ma