Watch parties and other parties

For sports fans, it’s that time of year. This June, we can add the World Cup to the NBA and NHL finals, all in the middle of baseball season.

When championship season arrives, the watch parties follow. Crowds in Carolina and Las Vegas packed their home arenas, but when the hometown team was on the road, they filled those same buildings anyway to watch together on giant screens.

The same was true during the NBA playoffs, with huge crowds gathering throughout New York to celebrate the Knicks’ first trip this deep into the postseason in a long time. And then there are the World Cup watch parties.

Take an NBA or NHL gathering and multiply it by dozens of locations. Fans all over the world wait four years for the chance to watch their side wearing the nation’s colors compete on the world stage.

It wasn’t sports, and the crowd wasn’t nearly as large, but I found myself thinking about those gatherings while attending a different kind of party last week. Since moving to Las Cruces, I’ve been continually impressed by the heart of this community. People here turn out when there is something worth supporting, and the greater the cause, the larger the crowd.

Last week was my first opportunity to attend Taste of Las Cruces, Casa de Peregrinos’ signature fundraising event. Thirty local food vendors provided incredible offerings to hundreds of attendees, who also participated in a silent auction. If you’re going to raise money to feed people in need, you might as well do it with great food.

The room was full, the energy was high, and the event was a tremendous success.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had opportunities to spend time with the volunteers at Casa de Peregrinos and El Caldito Soup Kitchen. This week, I’ll be visiting Community of Hope. Those organizations are only a few examples of something I continue to notice throughout Southern New Mexico: a willingness to help.

The desire to lift friends, neighbors and strangers alike is one of the things that stands out most as I look around my new community. Thank you for being there when a need presents itself.

Speaking of service

I’m never quite sure what to do with Father’s Day.

Mothers do the heavy lifting when it comes to bringing children into the world, and in my experience they often carry much of the emotional burden that comes with raising them. I’ve certainly been blessed with an amazing wife and three gifted children.

As a father, I feel like I got to be there for much of the fun. We coach the baseball and soccer teams. We cheer from the sidelines. We get a front-row seat to watch children grow into adults.

This week, our daughter and son-in-law welcomed a daughter into the world, our 10th grandchild. Moments like that make me grateful for the opportunity to be part of something that extends across generations.

Children are an incredible gift. Maybe that’s the real reason for Father’s Day — not to celebrate ourselves, but to celebrate the chance we’ve been given to help shape a life, to make a positive difference, and then to watch that blessing continue into another generation.

I’ve known some great dads over the years, and I hope to measure up to the examples they’ve set through quiet acts of love, sacrifice and service.

Happy Father’s Day.