Rooting for each other.

Friday, I found myself at a viewing party at City Stadium. My friend and I were surrounded by a sea of red, white, and blue, watching the USA take on Australia. Although it's the start of that Virginia summer heat that makes you question your choice of outdoor activities, people came out in droves, face paint melting, club scarves in their hands, showing up for our country. Somewhere between cheers, my friend started telling me the positive stories she'd read related to the games. Like the Scottish fans who descended on Boston and drank the city dry, no exaggeration. Sam Adams ran out of its flagship lager and bars had to call in emergency deliveries. The Tartan Army went through four times the beer of a normal Fourth of July weekend, and Boston loved every minute of it. There is something poetic in Boston going from dumping out tea to push away the rule of a faraway king to, two and a half centuries later, pouring freely into the cups of new friends from across the same ocean. It's not just our beer. Many of our European visitors are experiencing America with the wonder of a newborn and the stamina of a Navy SEAL, stunned by our kindness, free refills, and ranch dressing. There is something about watching strangers delight in the ordinary parts of our lives that makes me want to notice them again, the small everyday things I've stopped seeing. Sitting in that early summer heat, I felt how easy connection actually is when we let it flow. Our media works so hard to sensationalize division among us. Whatever it takes to keep us tuned in, watching, believing, paying for their networks to exist. Then the World Cup comes around, with billions of people, yes billions, tuning in from every corner of the planet for this one event. All of us are just sharing these small moments. It really is that simple. We are all human. Driving home I smiled to myself, proud, plotting where I will watch Thursday's match against Türkiye. Maybe that is the real tournament, all of us remembering how good it feels to root for each other. Keep noticing the small moments. They add up to more than we think.