[12/24/2024] As I write this it’s just after 5 pm on Christmas Eve and here in Quebec it’s already full dark. At home, the fam still have an hour or two before sunset, as home is on the far western edge of the EST time zone. And I’ve been thinking all day ~ actually, since before we left home to drive up and spend the holidays with our Hélène and the Quebec contingent of our “made along the way” family ~ about what I could say to express again how deeply Ted Lasso has impacted ~ and continues to impact ~ my life and that of so many others.
As most of you know, we’re running a promotion again this year, donating $1 per sale of each of our Lift It Like Lasso puzzle books to Billy Brimblecom Jr.’s Steps of Faith Foundation. We discovered this not-for-profit amputee-helping organization last year through our friend Inge (pictured below with her son Danny and their friend Jason), whom we would never have known if Ted Lasso hadn’t been the phenomenon it is and was.
The series is, I believe, becoming rooted in our collective consciousness ~ to say nothing of the way it is moving into, at least, American culture. Just in the past month or so, I’ve seen the series referenced in conversational dialogue on at least two contemporary TV series on two different networks (more on those in another post). It’s spreading … like peace spreads, and love, when you give it half a chance.
[12/27/2024] Today, a few days-of-seeing-loved-ones later, two seemingly disparate pieces of art are keeping each other company in my head: Rob Thomas’s song “Little Wonders” and that scene from “Sunflowers” (S3E6) when, in Amsterdam, Jamie teaches Roy to ride a bike.
There are a number of cultural references here that we could talk about (and believe me, I can talk about this or, you know, ANY facet of Ted Lasso basically every day and twice on Sundays), but the real significance of this scene is illustrated when Jamie hops off the bike and onto the team bus the next morning. Flamboyant as ever, he shouts “we saw a windmill!” not “I taught Roy to ride a bike!”
It’s likely no one but he and Roy will ever know about those small hours in which Jamie helped just because he could. In doing so, and without thinking about it at all, he also helped to cement their growing friendship by this simple act of kindness.
The core message of this scene, like so much of Ted Lasso, is about stepping up and helping out when you can, even if it’s outside your comfort zone. And even if no one ever knows but you.
Of such are little wonders made
I think most of us live the best parts of our lives in “these small hours,” quietly going about our business and doing what needs to be done to help when it’s needed ~ because we can, and so we do. Did either Hélène or I need to write our Lift It Like Lasso series of puzzle books? Perhaps oddly, the answer is “yes, we did,” because, in doing so, we also helped each other through an extremely difficult time and answered darkness and loss with creation and light, love and laughter. Because we could.
I don’t expect we’ll visit the White House as a result of having created these puzzle books, or even end up on Oprah, but much of our lives were made, as well, in those small but many hours of creating each Lift It Like Lasso volume ~ which, like the bike riding lesson, was equal parts scary and funny and frustrating and somehow soothing. (Or maybe that was just watching the series over and over.)
I believe that’s also what Billy Brimblecom did when he began building Steps of Faith Foundation into the not-for-profit amputee-helping organization it is today. And what Jason Sudeikis did in creating that first fundraiser concert to help his friend raise enough money to pay for his prosthetic leg (unconsciously planting the first seeds of what would grow into Thundergong!)
Jamie and Roy, having learned to ride a bike, could have just ridden off to find a windmill. Mission accomplished. But they didn’t; they spent the bike ride finding other common ground, building their friendship (and you’ll notice in the next episode how Roy on a bike gets folded into Jamie’s training).
In the same way, both Billy and Jason, having raised the money to buy Billy’s prosthesis, could have left it there. Mission accomplished. Billy could have just focused on his own rehab and gotten back to his life and his music; Jason could have just moved on to his next comedy or film project. But they didn’t. Billy turned his attention to how he could help other amputees, and Jason, continuing to use his talents and skills to entertain, brought his success and influence back to help, bringing with him other talented friends, also enthusiastic to help.
Billy likely won’t get invited to the White House for his efforts, either, and, thanks to the heart of Ted Lasso, Jason’s already been, so we can all strike that from our list of motivations.
But seriously, there is still something we can all do to help, to create little wonders for ourselves and others.
Create your little wonders
If you’re a gamer, like puzzles and pop culture, particularly of the Ted Lasso variety ~ or someone you care about is and does ~ there is a simple act of kindness you can perform right now, in probably less than 5 minutes.
Click on the image or this link and buy one or more of the Lift It Like Lasso series. Why? Because every book purchased between now and midnight (EST) 1/1/25 adds another $1 to our donation to Steps of Faith Foundation. Doing so will help make someone’s New Year that much happier, and you will start the New Year a little lighter for having created a little wonder of your own in this small fraction of an hour.
Our promotion ends at midnight 1/1/2025, but even if you don’t get in on that, you can still help ~ click on one of the links to Steps and make a donation ~ and carry that much more light and wonder with you, wherever you are in the year.
It’s important, stepping up and helping when you can. Being kind. Even if no one but you ever knows.
Happiest of New Years to all of you ~ wishing each of you a year of more light and love and laughter in all of your small hours.
Barbecue Sauce ~