Full Disclosure: Phillips 66 did compensate me for this experience. However, the thoughts and opinions are my own and not that of Phillips 66.

“Billinger at the top of the key. He’s got 10 seconds left with the Kansas Jayhawks down by 1 to the Mizzou Tigers, and it all comes down to this possession. He makes his move, spinning past two defenders 3 seconds left, he’s inside the free-throw line, and throws up a prayer!”

“HE GOT IT! BILLINGER and the Kansas Jayhawks win the Big 12 Basketball Championship!”

These were the words that I imagined Brent Musburger would announce from my small town western Kansas driveway on ESPN during March. As a 7-year-old, I had hoped to be a Kansas Jayhawk some day. Little did I know, in those moments watching the ball fly through the brisk Kansas wind against the blue sky, I was teaching myself to Live To The Full.

That 7-year-old with dreams of playing college basketball, and his hopes to have the ball in his hands to shoot a game winner had his dreams crushed in high school, but still has a love for March and the college basketball that comes with it.

As many months of March have come and passed; March has started to take on new meaning now that I am parent. Those same dreams that I had growing up, I can see in his eyes as he recreates some of those same magical play-by-play calls in our driveway that I created myself when I was his age.

Live to the Full has new meaning as a parent

As a parent, watching my son make that same call I did reinforces how easy it is for me to Live To The Full with my boys. While I do not want to dismiss growing up in a small town, my sons are growing up in Kansas City. With that comes opportunities that I never had growing up.

I never saw my first Kansas Jayhawks game until I was in my late teens. William saw his first game last spring, but despite it being a loss to the Oregon Ducks in the Elite 8, he is still a Hawks fan. I went to my first Big 12 Basketball Tournament game in 2008… the year the Jayhawks won the National Championship. William and Joseph saw their first Big 12 Basketball game this week.

It never fails: as parents, when we are in the moment, it is hard to take a second to let it sink in really. It is in those moments though that we Live To The Full. We fill our, parenting tank, so to speak without even realizing it as we spend precious moments with our kids creating memories that they will remember why they are proud to be here.

I have to be honest, being able to share the experience of attending the 2018 Big 12 Basketball Championship in Kansas City with my family has been a highlight that we will all remember. Even though we are Jayhawks fans, we sat through a great game between Kansas State and TCU that went to overtime on a last second 3-point shot.

It doesn’t matter that Udoka Azubuike (one of the Jayhawk’s big men) didn’t play. My sons won’t remember who played. I don’t know who played in the first Kansas Jayhawks game I went to. Now that I am a parent, I realize that being able to share that with my dad fills our parenting tank.

Sitting there next to William and Joseph, watching with wonder in their eyes, and having the same dream that I had to play in the Big 12 Basketball Tournament once again I was able to Live to the Full.

I first noticed the new Live to the Full campaign when I was filling up at a Phillips 66 station on my way home from work. I saw a little toddler whose face was up against the window of a car with his tongue sticking out. That’s when I knew that Phillips 66 got what it meant to be a parent. They knew exactly what it meant to Live to the Full. It isn’t so much about those moments we spend at the gas station filling up our cars, entertaining our kids as we run around the vehicle… although moments like that help. It is the moments we share between filling our gas tanks to full.

It’s the moments we spend in our car talking about how excited we are with our kids as we shuttle them to and from basketball practice, or as we run errands with our kids who will inevitably lose their backpacks. It’s those moments that we Live in the Full, and Phillips 66 understands that.

How do you Live to the Full?