Living your best life!

After thirteen years of grinding it out on the football field and working year round to keep in shape, Philadelphia Eagles Center Jason Kelce called his career quits in March, announcing his retirement in a tearful farewell. In the weeks since his announcement, Kelce has been the perfect example of someone “living his best life.” Here’s what I mean:

—He made one Eagles’ fan day at Taylor Swift’s concert in London by walking up to and surprising the young fan wearing his number 62 jersey. He stopped the kid and took a picture with him. The clip has received over 1.7 million views on X (Twitter).

—He embraced the Swiftie culture, looking happier than a 14-year-old girl, trading friendship bracelets with fans at the London concerts, enough that he had a thick arm full of bracelets.

—Kelce hosted a two-day celebrity bar-tending event in Sea Isle, New Jersey, benefitting the Philadelphia Eagles Autism Foundation and his own foundation. The annual fundraiser has raised more than $630,000 since 2021. Leading up to the fundraiser, he cruised around the beach town with several of his former teammates in speedy mopeds, waving to passersby.

—He went in with his brother to purchase Garage Beer, one of the fastest growing light beer brands in the Midwest. The beer is currently sold in 13 states. In addition, he’s continued to work on the podcast he shares with his brother and was a much sought after football commentator that ended with ESPN signing him to work on their Monday night Countdown show.

Kelce has said he’s still figuring out what he wants to do with the next stage of his life and knows that it’s a work-in-progress. It’s inspiring though to watch people who love what they’re doing. Oftentimes, its retirees like Kelce who are getting the most out of their life, but other times it’s people who have found their niche and find the joy in the little things.

You can’t help but notice the joy in their eyes. It’s people willing to take risks and step outside the box that society likes to put us in. It’s people who are kind to others and have a purpose. It’s people like:

—The competitors I saw in the US swimming and track Olympic qualifying races, both the ones who won and will be moving onto Paris and the ones who came up empty. It has to be tough missing out, but I saw one female runner who still managed a smile. She’ll watching the Olympics from home like the rest of us, but she held her head high and was a good sport in wishing the other qualifiers well.

—Actor Michael Keaton who will be returning later in the fall to a sequel to Timothy Burton’s cult classic “Beetlejuice.” Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara will also be returning. Keaton has been in some of the biggest box office movies, but I’ve always loved his down-to-earth approach to his craft. I saw old interview of his and I loved how kind he was to young actors just getting started. Plus anyone who started out working on Pittsburgh public television programs Where the Heart Is and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in the mid-70s can’t be all that bad.

—The kid I saw mowing several neighbor’s yards last week. Oh, he wasn’t smiling from one side of his face to the other. No, he was full of sweat, but I saw him knock on the houses and then later saw him hard at work. He looked tired, but he was very meticulous in his work. He wanted to do a job well done. Good for you kid.

If nothing else, these people remind me to live a little too. Here’s to living life to the fullest.