Every story needs a good beginning.
As we drove away from Gillette Stadium last night, I read the above six words on a billboard for Heineken beer. Although I won't be heading to the store to buy a six pack of Heineken, I could see their words as a six-word memoir in the making.
Last night the New England Revolution competed in and won their third game of a non-league tournament called SuperLiga. The win, however, was overshadowed with a sense of sadness and as it turns out some injustice too. After 15 years playing for Major League Soccer (all the years the league has existed) the great Steve Ralston held a post game press conference to announce his retirement as a player. The injustice came in the form of a tournament technicality that disallowed Ralston from playing in his final game. His retirement as a player comes as a loss for the team, the fans and the entire organization. His presence alone was an invaluable asset on and off the field.
To some, probably me included, being disallowed to play in your final game would seem like a slap in the face after the contributions Steve Ralston has made to the sport. Steve took it all in stride and quietly made his exit from a great career in front of a small crowd at Gilette Stadium last night. Although it's probably not how he wanted to go out, in all honesty it was really more his style; all class, quiet, with little fanfare. A post game embrace at center field with goalkeeper Matt Reis, a few moments to shake hands with fans who'd come to show their appreciation and then he was off to make the official announcement.
For me the story of Steve Ralston's MLS player career came to a close last evening with an okay ending. His friends, family, colleagues and fans would have liked to see him go out in a big way but the low key event suited him. Rumor has it Ralston may be headed to Houston to be the assistant coach for the Dynamo. He has the potential to make a great coach so wherever he ends up, they will be lucky to have him.
And so on a warm summer's evening in Foxboro, maybe it wasn't about the story having a good ending. Perhaps it was more that every story needs a good beginning.
Good luck Steve Ralston. May you have a good beginning to your story as a coach in Major League Soccer.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
2. Remember Who You Are
Honoring who I am with words.
Getting back to my idea from a few weeks ago about 42 ways to nourish the soul, today I will tackle #2 on the list, reminding yourself of who you are.
As I sit here pondering this topic, it has occurred to me that writing plays a big part in how I remember who I am. It's writing my blog about events, experiences and interests in my life. It's writing of adventures with loved ones and friends. It's writing of dreams and wishes of things to do or have or be someday.
In writing, it is a chance to remember and retell of occurrences that have defined who I am. It is a chance to share humor, joy and perhaps even wisdom that has guided me down the path that I am on. It is also a chance to ponder what the future may bring. And in between the writing there are pictures to remind me who I am in snapshots of my life and of those I share my days with.
So how do you remember who you are? And more importantly when was the last time you took a few moments to? It's actually quite gratifying...give it try!
Getting back to my idea from a few weeks ago about 42 ways to nourish the soul, today I will tackle #2 on the list, reminding yourself of who you are.
As I sit here pondering this topic, it has occurred to me that writing plays a big part in how I remember who I am. It's writing my blog about events, experiences and interests in my life. It's writing of adventures with loved ones and friends. It's writing of dreams and wishes of things to do or have or be someday.
In writing, it is a chance to remember and retell of occurrences that have defined who I am. It is a chance to share humor, joy and perhaps even wisdom that has guided me down the path that I am on. It is also a chance to ponder what the future may bring. And in between the writing there are pictures to remind me who I am in snapshots of my life and of those I share my days with.
So how do you remember who you are? And more importantly when was the last time you took a few moments to? It's actually quite gratifying...give it try!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Revvies Update
I sent Preston Burpo an email.
For those who haven't seen me recently, you have been spared the telling and reenactment of Revvies' goalie Preston Burpo's nasty leg break on Saturday night. I will be the first to admit that it took me a game or two to warm up to the idea of Burpo being our goalie. The fact is with Ralston leaving the team and my beloved goalie Matt Reis having surgery in the off season I had to dig down deep to rally enthusiasm for a team I hardly knew. Preston Burpo joined the team in January and began the season as our starting goalie. His style of play is different than Reis; Burpo seemed to favor coming off his line to challange for a ball instead of staying on the line defending the goal. He made some huge saves for the team during his short time between the sticks and proved himself to be a valuable member of the Revolution team.
The injury he sustained Saturday was no one's fault. He came out to challenge for a 50/50 ball and brought along some really bad luck with him. He will be out for the rest of the season. Hopefully it is not the end of his career. The team posted an email address to send Preston well wishes. I sent mine this morning.
For those who have a strong stomach you can google his name and I'm sure find a replay of the incident. Seeing it once was enough for me. One good thing that I saw some come out of this horrific injury is that it united the team in a way that had been missing. With so many new faces this year and returning players being out with the injury it seems that it has been tough for the team to really gel together. Winning for Burpo became their mission last Saturday night and it was a mission they completed successfully.
In encouraging news, Matt Reis has been removed from the disabled list a week earlier than planned and will sit on the bench Saturday as back-up goal keep. Due to the World Cup, league play will be light in the months of June and July which will give Reis a chance to ease back into the line-up.
I'm looking forward to the rest of season. And as always, GO REVVIES!
For those who haven't seen me recently, you have been spared the telling and reenactment of Revvies' goalie Preston Burpo's nasty leg break on Saturday night. I will be the first to admit that it took me a game or two to warm up to the idea of Burpo being our goalie. The fact is with Ralston leaving the team and my beloved goalie Matt Reis having surgery in the off season I had to dig down deep to rally enthusiasm for a team I hardly knew. Preston Burpo joined the team in January and began the season as our starting goalie. His style of play is different than Reis; Burpo seemed to favor coming off his line to challange for a ball instead of staying on the line defending the goal. He made some huge saves for the team during his short time between the sticks and proved himself to be a valuable member of the Revolution team.
The injury he sustained Saturday was no one's fault. He came out to challenge for a 50/50 ball and brought along some really bad luck with him. He will be out for the rest of the season. Hopefully it is not the end of his career. The team posted an email address to send Preston well wishes. I sent mine this morning.
For those who have a strong stomach you can google his name and I'm sure find a replay of the incident. Seeing it once was enough for me. One good thing that I saw some come out of this horrific injury is that it united the team in a way that had been missing. With so many new faces this year and returning players being out with the injury it seems that it has been tough for the team to really gel together. Winning for Burpo became their mission last Saturday night and it was a mission they completed successfully.
In encouraging news, Matt Reis has been removed from the disabled list a week earlier than planned and will sit on the bench Saturday as back-up goal keep. Due to the World Cup, league play will be light in the months of June and July which will give Reis a chance to ease back into the line-up.
I'm looking forward to the rest of season. And as always, GO REVVIES!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Living Fully
42 ways to nourish your soul.
As the ups and downs of daily life seem to be on a bit of down swing for me this week, I came across an article I'd copied years ago about nourishing your soul. Since a lack of time and perhaps inspiration have kept me from blogging lately, I've decided that I will use the 42 ways to nourish your soul as subjects for my blog. This will be the first entry. Please feel free to add your own nourishing ways in the comments section of any entry.
1. Swing
What could be better than a ride on a swing. Flying through the air. Pumping your legs to go higher and higher. Oh, to be a kid again! And although I can't remember the last time I had a swing ride like that, I can remember gently rocking to and fro on the porch swing at Dan's parents' cottage in Canada last summer. The morning sun, the afternoon air and the evening bugs all taken in from my seat on the porch swing. Relaxing and calming the gentle sway which admittedly lulled me to close my eyes for a mid afternoon nap more than once.
Porch swings: for the grown up kid in all of us and definitely nourishing for the soul!
As the ups and downs of daily life seem to be on a bit of down swing for me this week, I came across an article I'd copied years ago about nourishing your soul. Since a lack of time and perhaps inspiration have kept me from blogging lately, I've decided that I will use the 42 ways to nourish your soul as subjects for my blog. This will be the first entry. Please feel free to add your own nourishing ways in the comments section of any entry.
1. Swing
What could be better than a ride on a swing. Flying through the air. Pumping your legs to go higher and higher. Oh, to be a kid again! And although I can't remember the last time I had a swing ride like that, I can remember gently rocking to and fro on the porch swing at Dan's parents' cottage in Canada last summer. The morning sun, the afternoon air and the evening bugs all taken in from my seat on the porch swing. Relaxing and calming the gentle sway which admittedly lulled me to close my eyes for a mid afternoon nap more than once.
Porch swings: for the grown up kid in all of us and definitely nourishing for the soul!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Something To Talk About
Conversations stem from something in common.
We live in a time when it's the norm to see people with cell phones to their ear, a bluetooth in their ear or their fingers fluttering sending someone a text message. But how often do we see people, strangers, just striking up a conversation? Yesterday at the gas station the guy at the pump next to us was filling up his boat. Another guy at the gas station started to pull away and then stopped to ask the guy with the boat if he was going up to a local reservoir. He was and a conversation ensued. Two strangers found a common ground for an impromptu exchange.
I have come to notice that if we make the effort to start a conversation, people are more than willing to talk to you, even laugh or joke around. All it takes is one small, simple thing in common to get the ball rolling and all of the sudden the world doesn't seem so big.
We live in a time when it's the norm to see people with cell phones to their ear, a bluetooth in their ear or their fingers fluttering sending someone a text message. But how often do we see people, strangers, just striking up a conversation? Yesterday at the gas station the guy at the pump next to us was filling up his boat. Another guy at the gas station started to pull away and then stopped to ask the guy with the boat if he was going up to a local reservoir. He was and a conversation ensued. Two strangers found a common ground for an impromptu exchange.
I have come to notice that if we make the effort to start a conversation, people are more than willing to talk to you, even laugh or joke around. All it takes is one small, simple thing in common to get the ball rolling and all of the sudden the world doesn't seem so big.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Busy , Busy
This is how my Wednesday went:
7:15am - Wake up, drag myself out of bed, let Jak out and feed him, shower, dress, let Jak out again, finish getting ready for work, pick up Mom at the garage, drop her off at work and then go to work myself.
9:00am - Staff meeting usual topics discussed.
9:45am - Still in staff meeting, unusual topic discussed, boss announces he's leaving after ten years as head of our program.
10:00am - Back in my office, working on little tasks for an upcoming certified inspection.
11:07am - Fire department toned out for a brush fire, third straight day it had been burning.
11:10am - Phone calls, texts and emails start coming in from auxiliary members about above said fire and what is an appropriate response from the auxiliary.
11:20am - 12:20pm - Head to the Y to swim and pretend that work and fire do not exist at least for an hour.
12:30 - Back at work, eat lunch, continue to field inquiries from auxiliary members about the fire while trying to do work.
1:15pm - Decide via text message with other auxiliary members that we should order pizza.
1:30pm - Order 3 party pizzas and plan to leave work to pick them up and deliver them to the fire scene.
2:00pm - Leave work, pick up pizzas and head for the hills.
2:15pm - Arrive with pizza. Delivering food to hungry firefighters allows for special parking privileges.
2:20pm - 4:45pm - Hang around at the command center and wait for further instructions or to assist firefighters coming out of the fire and wonder why the PD has a paid a chief.
4:46pm - Begin to form a plan to get more food to the scene because the fire is not out and more firefighters are arriving to help. Secure a Subway run by an auxiliary member returning to town from work.
5:00pm - Make a trip to the firehouse to make coffee, stop at the store to get 1/2 & 1/2 because no one really wants the fake powdered creamer unless there's absolutely nothing else.
5:25pm - Drop off coffee and creamer back at the scene then make a mad dash home.
5:40pm - Leave to meet Dad and Lois for 2nd Wednesday of the month Spaghetti Dinner (spag din).
6:15pm - 7:30pm - Eat spaghetti, comment that it isn't as good this month as it usually is, catch up with Dad and Lois, laugh at their story of being on the jumbotron at a Boston Bruins game.
7:45pm - Get stuck in traffic on the highway because everyone waits till the last second to merge down to one lane for construction.
8:00pm - Arrive at Costco to purchase more supplies for the auxiliary in case the brush fire goes into a 4th day.
8:45pm - Head home.
9:15pm - Arrive at home. Mom is painstakingly looking at pictures on the internet which requires waiting for a dial up modem to download them. Start laundry so that I have clean pants to wear to work the next day.
9:45pm - Mom gives up on dial-up. I clean out my overflowing purse.
10:00pm - Start doing dishes while calling At&t because I'm having cell phone issues AGAIN.
10:15pm - Still on phone with At&t, fold laundry.
10:20pm - Insist that At&t send me a new phone and get one, hang pants to dry, finish dishes.
10:40pm - Plug in phone to charge and head for bed.
11:00pm - Read for a few minutes until my eyes refuse to stay open then fall asleep and remain that way until 7:00am this morning.
7:15am - Wake up, drag myself out of bed, let Jak out and feed him, shower, dress, let Jak out again, finish getting ready for work, pick up Mom at the garage, drop her off at work and then go to work myself.
9:00am - Staff meeting usual topics discussed.
9:45am - Still in staff meeting, unusual topic discussed, boss announces he's leaving after ten years as head of our program.
10:00am - Back in my office, working on little tasks for an upcoming certified inspection.
11:07am - Fire department toned out for a brush fire, third straight day it had been burning.
11:10am - Phone calls, texts and emails start coming in from auxiliary members about above said fire and what is an appropriate response from the auxiliary.
11:20am - 12:20pm - Head to the Y to swim and pretend that work and fire do not exist at least for an hour.
12:30 - Back at work, eat lunch, continue to field inquiries from auxiliary members about the fire while trying to do work.
1:15pm - Decide via text message with other auxiliary members that we should order pizza.
1:30pm - Order 3 party pizzas and plan to leave work to pick them up and deliver them to the fire scene.
2:00pm - Leave work, pick up pizzas and head for the hills.
2:15pm - Arrive with pizza. Delivering food to hungry firefighters allows for special parking privileges.
2:20pm - 4:45pm - Hang around at the command center and wait for further instructions or to assist firefighters coming out of the fire and wonder why the PD has a paid a chief.
4:46pm - Begin to form a plan to get more food to the scene because the fire is not out and more firefighters are arriving to help. Secure a Subway run by an auxiliary member returning to town from work.
5:00pm - Make a trip to the firehouse to make coffee, stop at the store to get 1/2 & 1/2 because no one really wants the fake powdered creamer unless there's absolutely nothing else.
5:25pm - Drop off coffee and creamer back at the scene then make a mad dash home.
5:40pm - Leave to meet Dad and Lois for 2nd Wednesday of the month Spaghetti Dinner (spag din).
6:15pm - 7:30pm - Eat spaghetti, comment that it isn't as good this month as it usually is, catch up with Dad and Lois, laugh at their story of being on the jumbotron at a Boston Bruins game.
7:45pm - Get stuck in traffic on the highway because everyone waits till the last second to merge down to one lane for construction.
8:00pm - Arrive at Costco to purchase more supplies for the auxiliary in case the brush fire goes into a 4th day.
8:45pm - Head home.
9:15pm - Arrive at home. Mom is painstakingly looking at pictures on the internet which requires waiting for a dial up modem to download them. Start laundry so that I have clean pants to wear to work the next day.
9:45pm - Mom gives up on dial-up. I clean out my overflowing purse.
10:00pm - Start doing dishes while calling At&t because I'm having cell phone issues AGAIN.
10:15pm - Still on phone with At&t, fold laundry.
10:20pm - Insist that At&t send me a new phone and get one, hang pants to dry, finish dishes.
10:40pm - Plug in phone to charge and head for bed.
11:00pm - Read for a few minutes until my eyes refuse to stay open then fall asleep and remain that way until 7:00am this morning.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
This Picture's Worth Six Words
I acquired these new bumper stickers this week in an attempt to gain some motivation in my triathlon training. Tri like hell makes me smile. I like the play on words. I did get a few jogs in earlier this week. Today I swam 20 lengths of the pool and then took Jak for a mile walk. So slowly I'm starting to get back my tri legs back under me.
As you might have noticed the Revvies Season Opener countdown clock has been removed. The first match of the season was last in LA. All I can say is it's going to take me some time to adjust to all the off season changes. The commentator said that of LA's 26 player roster they retained 20 players from last year. My comment about the Revolution was of our 26 player roster we retained 6 players. Okay maybe it's not quite that extreme but with changes and injuries, four players from last season started the game last night. And in a decision that is baffling me, the team captain was a player who hasn't played a minute for us prior to the start of last night's match. Okay, deep breaths. We will get through this. Anyway, the Revvies lost 1-0. Given the circumstances it could have been a lot worse. Next match is Saturday. Go Revs!
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