Hasn't this been a fun time? I am not well-versed in futbol; most of my knowledge comes from Ted Lasso. Decades ago my sons played soccer, but they were so little that for one of them to score a goal was something really great, right?

But now, here we are in the middle of this extraordinary event that our country gets to host. And with the exception of interference from someone who didn't seem to care about the matches until he "made a call" that made us look like little whiny-butt sore losers, it's been an incredible experience.

I have not had the pleasure of seeing any of the events in person. I heard the tickets were problematic and out of my price range for something I didn't understand anyway. But a friend in Kansas City who attended the Ecuador/Curacao match said it was magical.

My own magical experience with the World Cup, which I could not have put any price on, happened in a small room at a lake house in Cherokee Village, Ark., a few miles south of the Missouri line. There was not a World Cup stadium within 325 miles.

My family gathered for July 4 festivities at Lake Thunderbird: the annual volunteer firefighters' pancake breakfast, the hot dogs, the boat parade, the fireworks show from the dam. Year after year, it is a classic small-town time with bunting and ice cream and sparklers. (No, wait, we nixed those due to such a dry, hot summer.) The absolutely fabulous tacos de lengua brought by my daughter-in-law added an international........

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