But these aren’t normal times. Not even close. One trip to the grocery store where mask-wearing customers are directed into one-way traffic down aisles in an attempt to mitigate contact with other customers is all the proof you need to know this is about as far away from normal as it can get.

The coronavirus has changed everything, probably forever. The way we think, the way we interact, the way we congregate, the way we view sports — it’s all been altered.

Which is why it didn’t seem absurd as I stood just outside the fence at Lynx Stadium Friday night. I was alone and I was smiling — just … smiling — as I stared up at the football lights and thought back to better times, simpler times, and told myself that we’ll eventually get back to that point.

For me, that’s what the “Light Up Iowa,” or “Light Up The Stadium” (I’ve heard so many different names) initiative is all about. It’s about hope.

Photo by Carson Struchen

Every Friday night through the end of the school year, in communities all across the state, stadium lights will come to life for one minute for each school day that has been missed. The initiative actually began as an idea inside the Heart of Iowa Conference, and it was quickly adopted statewide.

Webster City’s lights were ablaze for 19 minutes on Friday. That figure will increase to 24 minutes later this week. And on and on we’ll go through the end of May.

Maybe by the time this exercise concludes, we’ll be able to turn the lights on for real for baseball and softball games in June. I’m not holding my breath, but I am holding out hope.

Because I miss it, and I know I’m not alone. But it’s more than just the competitions, the wins and the losses, that have me a bit melancholy.

I miss the smell of popcorn and I miss the sight of steam coming off a cup of hot chocolate from the stands on a brisk April evening at the track. And, personally speaking, I miss the hustle and bustle of moving from the tennis courts, to the golf course, to the soccer pitch within a few hours time in an attempt to cover as many events as possible.

Photo by Carson Struchen

I know I’ll never take it for granted again, which is one of the few silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s made me appreciate the things I do (or did) have, and the things I know I will eventually have again.

If you missed out on Friday’s light show, do yourself a favor and give it a try later this week. Maybe it won’t do anything for you. But maybe, just maybe, it will put a smile on your face like it did mine, if only for a few minutes.

For now, that will have to do.

Photo by Carson Struchen