A Cheery Countenance

“A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance.”
Proverbs 15:13(NKJV)

Out of the Mouths of Babes

My husband’s father, David Michael, and his uncle, Graham Michael, were athletes at Brown University. They played two sports - soccer and wrestling. Graham ‘50 and David ‘51 have both been inducted into Brown’s Athletic Hall of Fame. And while at Brown, they were friends with the now legendary football coach, Joe Paterno of Penn State who was also a student and fellow athlete at Brown.

Many years later, one of Graham’s sons in law, John, needed to travel to Penn State for an education conference since he was a teacher in Pennsylvania. He thought it would be nice to bring his family along and show them Penn State while he was there. One of his older sons called Penn State’s Athletic Department, introducing himself as the grandson of Graham Michael - a college friend of Coach Paterno, and asked if he and his family could meet Coach Paterno while they were there. Permission was granted but the coach did more than just meet them.

Much to their surprise, the family was given a private tour of the facility, including the coach’s office, trophy area, and weight room. In addition, they were also introduced to some of the players. At the end of the tour, Coach Paterno asked the family, “Do any of you have any questions?” To this, the youngest child, four year old David, responded in all sincerity, “Yes, I have a question…Why do you have so much trouble beating Notre Dame?”

The gracious coach responded, “We are working on that.” …And Coach Paterno knew the little boy’s granddaddy.(Graham was always a character) So I suppose the coach just laughed at how much the little guy was like his grandfather.