We Are Packers by Judy DuCharme

Here we are, enjoying Florida sunshine. Granted, Wisconsin weather a couple weeks ago hit the 70’s, we got patio furniture out, and we began delighting in the out of doors. Still, walking sand beaches, watching dolphins play, and leaving the door to the balcony open all day and all night is grand. So, today it’s 78 degrees. My husband and I just walked the north beach of Honeymoon Island, about 4 miles, and now my son and I are going back out to each lunch at the Island café and walk Dog Beach, where everyone brings their dogs.

So, why are we all sitting on the end of the bed, indoors, staring at the flat screen TV? Because the Packers are down by 10 points, there are only 3 minutes left, and we know they won. We just can’t remember how. Crazy? Yes.

It was the Bengals Packers game from 1992, Brett Favre’s first game with the Packers. First string Quarterback Don Majkowski got injured and so did back-up Ty Detmer. New kid, Favre, came in. He looked so young – he was so young – even Mike Holmgren looked young. The announcer said Favre had strength, but ‘no touch’. Still, he wowed everyone that day.

The game was 20 years ago. I remembered listening in the car and my son kept telling me not to pound the dashboard. I was obviously excited.

So here we sit 20 years later, when we should be out in the sun and the dazzlingly beautiful day, watching to see how the Packers pulled it off. We must truly bleed green and gold. We loved it, discussed it, and actually argued as to whether the Bengal’s retry of a field goal was due to a defensive or offensive penalty. We were into it and cheered when Kentrick Taylor got that amazing pass from Farve to tie the game. Taylor was in because Sterling Sharpe injured his ribs. Chris Jacke kicked the extra point to win the game after missing two earlier field goals.

Humans really are quite silly. We laugh, watching how silly dogs can be or how goofy kids are sometimes, but I hope you can laugh at your own silliness. I think God enjoys those quirky little characteristics we have. After all, He made us, just like we create characters in the stories we write, and don’t we enjoy the variety of traits and quirks of the people we know. Maybe all this just shows why my first book to be published is the Cheesehead Devotional. I think I hear God chuckling.

About the author:I was a teacher for 22 years, retiring in June of 2012. Coming from a family of teachers, it seemed a natural fit for me after my children were in school. I grew up in the small lakeside town of Harrisville in the northern part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, the youngest of four children. Following college, Michigan State University, I worked as an announcer at a Christian Radio Station near Lansing. I married Lee in 1975 and we lived in the Detroit suburbs of Berkley and Royal Oak until moving to Wisconsin’s beautiful Door Peninsula in early 1984 with Bethany, age 5, and Christopher, age 3. It was a year or two later that I went back to school to obtain my teaching degree. I taught 5th grade my whole teaching career and loved it. Science was my area of specialty, teaching two or three 5th grade classes of science each year. Of course, reading, language, spelling, social studies, and math were part of my teaching as well. Each subject is unique in its own way.

All the while I was growing up I enjoyed writing short stories and poems. As an adult I put together my own Bible Studies and taught other adults in small groups or Sunday School classes. The desire to write was always in me, but the time commitment never quite seemed feasible. A few years ago the desire grew stronger, and I felt it was becoming a calling from the Lord.

Somehow, I began to find more time to write, but more importantly ideas seemed to well up within me, scenes seemed to form in my mind and spirit. Besides devotionals, I found novels beginning in me. I completed my first short novel, edited it as best I could, then set out to see if I could get published. The publishing process overwhelmed me. I had had no idea that it could be as much or more work than the actual writing. A friend of a friend who was an author gave me the best advice: go to a writer’s conference. There, I began to learn how to write better, find markets, editors, publishers, and what needs to be done. I still found it daunting, and have a great deal of rewriting to do, but now it is exciting and inspiring as well.

At my first conference, I met Eddie Jones of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. He was the one who suggested the Cheesehead Devotional. Anyone who knows me knows what a crazy Packer fan I am. It was quite a suggestion, combining two great loves: first and foremost my love for the Lord and secondly my love for the Packers. Several months later, The Cheesehead Devotional became a reality. It combines action from games I’ve attended or watched, experiences with the players, and simply the love of the game with insights from the Word of God. My hope is that it is fun, inspirational, and memorable. Perhaps there will be more editions.

You can find The Cheesehead Devotional at: http://www.amazon.com/Cheesehead-Devotional-Christian-Meditations-Devotionals-ebook/dp/B009ADZTOU/