The Great Lamine Yamal cup hunt
If you’ve been following the FIFA World Cup this year, you’ll know Lamine Yamal, our grandson Mos’s one and only hero.
He has the jersey.
He plays football every chance he gets.
He watches his highlights.
As far as Mos is concerned, Lamine Yamal is the greatest footballer on earth.
Which means…
Opa Nagib has also become slightly obsessed with Lamine Yamal.
Every few days he sends our son Shayne another video.
“Show this one to Mos.”
Lamine’s top 10 goals.
A FIFA clip.
A brilliant assist.
Anything Lamine Yamal.
Enter McDonald’s FIFA World Cup promotion: Buy a FIFA World Cup Extra Value Meal or McValue Meal and receive a mystery collectible cup.
Some featured players. Some cartoon characters.
The catch? The package is sealed. You don’t know which one you’re gonna get.
So, for the past few weeks… let’s just say we’ve eaten more McDonald’s than we care to admit.
Every time we’d open the package, no Lamine Yamal.
Yesterday, after spending three hours in the hospital for treatment, I was hungry but couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat. So we drove towards home, and lo and behold, where do we end up but at McDonalds, of course.
His reasoning? The World Cup ends on Sunday and we are running out of chances to get the Lamine Yamal Cup. “We have to”.
We opened the mystery package together. His face was full of anticipation. And then…Lamine Yamal!
You would have thought we’d won the lottery.
Nagib actually screamed.
I laughed so hard.
Because this wasn’t really about a cup.
It was about a grandfather who couldn’t wait to make his grandson happy.
Watching him reminded me of another story.
When Nagib was a little boy growing up in Mtwara, Tanzania, the local shop—Kalu’s Store—ran a promotion.
Collect all the pieces hidden inside boxes of laundry detergent and you could win a bicycle.
Every day, eight year-old Nagib would stealthily buy another box — on his mother’s credit account.
Then he’d throw out the detergent just to get to the little prize piece inside.
He never told his mother. Until one day Mr. Kalu finally did.
Let’s just say… that’s how the bicycle dream came to an abrupt end.
Maybe nothing really changes.
A little boy dreams of a bicycle.
Decades later… the same little boy grows up and dreams of finding a Lamine Yamal cup for his grandson.
Love simply finds new ways to play.
