“One day we will be sitting on a patio somewhere in Vancouver, drinking a margarita and laughing about our lives right now”–out of Ciara’s mouth, August 31, 2010.
I had a good friend sitting on my bed, tears streaming down her face because she was devastated over giving up everything to play in Norway, her friends, the comfort of knowing the language around you, financial security, health care that she was familiar with, in order to make a team, and then realizing she didn’t make it, through other people who had been invited. Did they send you an email? I asked incredulously, if not, naively. “No” she answered, “not a single word”.
After catching her up with the struggles that I have had the last month with my ankle, with contracts not being honoured, and financial stress becoming as familiar to me as the brown hair on my head because of it, a new team, and just the struggles of life in general (yep, broken computer and cell phone in the last 2 weeks that needed to be replaced), all in the name of being the best that we can be on the field, and following our passion to play, after the tears turned to laughter, the best I could come up with, was the above quote.
I’m happy to say, she smiled, and agreed.
As I mentioned in my last post, I feel that a buddha has smashed me in the head. Friends and parents concern, is the only memo that I have gotten that maybe I should be more worried, but I just have realized, worrying about things isn’t going to change anything.
That being said, word came today that my new club, now is in danger of bankruptcy, and we find out tomorrow if it is the case. My rent that they said they paid, wasn’t, but again, I just have faith and trust that it will work out. If anything as I laughed with my roommate today, life right now, with all its chaos, makes for some fantastic stories that when at some point my life becomes boring, I can look back and have loads of fantastic memories.
Another plus of the stress that we all go through together is that it really bonds us. I mean really, when your credit card bill hits 4 digits and you don’t know if it will work in the grocery store, but you know your buddy behind you has your back, it just makes you feel tight with people. I just had a visit in Oslo yesterday of a good friend of mine from the sports school in Denmark that I went to in 2002, when I was in my first months of being overseas. She was from Estonia, and her bright smile, lightened many dark Danish days for me, when all I wanted to do was go to the comfort of home. I marvelled with the easiness that we hung out all day, how crazy it was, being from completely different worlds and being together for only 4 months of our lives 8 years ago, that she could feel like such a lifelong friend.
And that’s when I realized that all these struggles are about a much bigger picture, and always there are little hidden blessings that although aren’t apparent at the time always come to bloom later. And if anything, I know I’m going to have a really good friend to have a really entertaining margarita with, 5 years from now, on some patio in Vancouver.
Essays on Life 