When inspiration matters
I can't image a time in my life when a little inspiration at the right time wasn't appreciated. It seems far too often that I have wandered aimlessly, only in hope of some external force coming along to push me on my course. The truth is, sometimes we can be our own inspiration - if we look deep enough. Occasionally we have to unpack enough to actually get to a few items that make us appreciate what we have and were we've been.
Teams, Cheerleaders and Solid Friends
Being part of something larger than yourself is a good thing. It kind of makes you feel.....larger than otherwise. Sure, there are times that you may feel like you don't really belong, but you are still integral to the unit. It's kind of like being a tiny moon of an otherwise much larger and significant planet. Everyone matters. The human desire to feel needed, wanted, important - never really goes away. Perhaps a willingness to seek and act may diminish, but we all have the fundamental need.
Having played team sports in my growing and early adult years, I learned how maturity and experience changes the end result. As kids playing summer baseball, it was all a lot of joking around, but building friendships that would last. By high school, a separation of the herd began. Those that are more serious, gifted and/or dedicated begin to stand out. So many times, those with natural inherent gifts become a custom to always being the best and refuse the work ethic that is otherwise required for long term success. Those ones eventually blow away in the breeze. By college, these are all guys that know their business. Early on there may be a couple that aren't as willing to sacrifice and they will also eventually disappear. The mistake regularly made is living through the assumption that these experiences mold us into something we really aren't. In my personal case, going that far introduced me to the path I needed to find, making it possible to be where I am today. I wouldn't say it made me something I already wasn't. It simply helped me find the door to becoming the engineer I have wanted to be since I was fifteen-years old.
Bus Rides
Traveling to and from games on a bus could be one of those moments you remember with either great distain, or fondness. Believe me, I had a trove of both. Our Junior year, we hard-scrabble lucky dogs that were allowed to play junior varsity, had just pounded the crap out of an opposing team - out just near the edge of nowhere. The very long bus ride home was a hoot - a lot of fun. The bus driver playing the radio loader than usual. I never realized there were so many alternate words to the popular songs of the day. That particular game, I took a pretty good hit, but was genuinely proud to be with that group of knuckle-heads. We all played at our very best and showed a lot of comradery in the process. It was hot and hard, but we played well - as a team. Individually we seemed to be at our zenith. The bus ride home was an affirmation of that much larger thing to which we all belonged.
Cheerleaders
Our senior year we had to play a rare Saturday game - away. Away games were always tough, in that they made it hard for fans to attend. Add to that the complication of a Saturday and well....it was different. In this particular case, it required a bus ride through Sardine canyon, up over a summit and down into Cache Valley. It was a reasonably cool morning, with the Autumn colors breaking, going through the canyon. Of course school busses are not known for there hill climbing ability, so it was a slow grind up to the summit. I don't remember exactly where it was, but it seems just on the other side of the summit, on the down-hill side when the bus driver yelled back to us - "hey, look on the right side road". And just as the bus was picking up a little steam from gravity, we blew past our devoted cheerleaders - Tammy and the gang! We only caught a glimpse, but it was so cool. They had all got out of their bus and setup on the side of the highway - cheering us on! I'll never forget that moment, as it made me realize that sometimes supporting your team isn't just about showing up. We were all in IT together - whatever IT was going to be.
Solid Friends
After forty-plus some odd years, we still stay in touch. It's not "pissing-match", or anything like that, but more an awareness of each other. We all have our own lives, struggles and successes. More so, we have all moved passed our youth and are living our lives into the future. But our past.......may be in the past, but it defined who we would later become (the better and worse). I distinctly remember my last football game played in high school and college. They both ended in very disappointing defeats, but more...they sent me on my next course. Our final high school game was also our annual rivalry. It was raining, snowing, wet, cold and very muddy. Not a single blade of grass on that entire field. In the pre-game introduction, we starters and seniors all stood shoulder to shoulder - water dripping off our facemasks, soaked to the bone, but ready to do battle. Our strong-side tackle had broken his leg the week before in a meaningless win over a non-region team - but still took the field with us in the lineup. Sure, none of us were asked who'd we like to play with, but none of us would rather be with any other group of mutts at that particular time. A lot to be said about that game; how teams come together and individuals can derail that effort alone - but that's a story for another day. Ironically, a kid I lined up against most of that game would become a teammate and friend in college.
Worlds Apart - Somehow...So Close Still.
I have often pondered how other kids my age grew up in their own little worlds. We had it good. Over the years I have met people that grew up in completely different places, with similar stories. Somehow, we had a lot in common. Sure, not everyone had even close to the same opportunities, but along that trail, we all experienced hardship, growth, love and betrayal. A lot of what we know now, we wouldn't want to know then. The innocence of our lives would wear away into the reality of our futures. Tragedy would take many, while yet others would continue living a charmed existence. What we didn't know, or couldn't truly appreciate, is that literally every decision we'd make would eventually have consequences. I swear, I can feel every potato-chip I have ever eaten, every time I get on my bike. Many of us of disappeared, without seemingly a trace - but they are still part of us. I have become friends with a guy that grew up as our rival. We have done business for many years. Nearly two years ago he was diagnosed with Stage-4 cancer and is fighting that battle to this day. Another friend made through business over the years, just lost his sweet wife to a nine-year battle with cancer. Married for pushing 50 years, theirs is a love story. Despite a few years age difference and having grown up on opposite side of the same town, we are not too different. You see, we all stood with our peers, our friends, our confidants, believing in our dreams and facing our fears together. The fact that some of us still value those relationships, doesn't mean we haven't moved on - rather the opposite. And moved on we have - some truly awesome people in that respect. I'm proud to have my associations with you and still call you friends.
"Like a Rock"
I did a post quite some time back, referencing a Bob Seger tune, where he writes "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then". The summer of 1980 was transformative and the beginning of the end of what innocence was left for any of us. In '84 he wrote another ballad dealing with the inevitability of leaving the past behind. Released in '85, he stated it was his own inner reflection of how his late teen-years as the period he thought to be at his peak. Not professionally of course, but that he didn't really know the weight and burden of life and how good he had it - as did all of us. The video starts with him pulling up to a rail crossing in an old and dirty 1960 Corvette. The train stops him squarely in his path, only to begin a moment of clarity and reflection. As he sees what is a representation of our youth through the passing rail cars, he can see on the other side glimpses of that age. What is also clear is what they can't see, but he is keenly aware - the things that stand between our innocence and what becomes our life. At one point they are all standing together facing the passing train as it obscures an unseen look into the future - as firm and as resolute as they can be in their convictions and dreams. Then, as if to a cue, they all turn and return back to their positions in life - to live out what will become their lives. The protagonist (Seger) ever so slightly smiles as to tell them - you are gonna have a great life. As the crossing guard arms raise and the train passes, there is nobody on the other side - it was only a self reflection. The haunting siren of Rick Vitto's sliding-Telecaster sounds the bitter-sweet that is our own memories.
If we only knew. What we would we tell ourselves? Would it make a difference?
Ride HARD!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave COMMENT.