Sitting in a local tavern on a snowy/rainy evening in Fremont. December first tomorrow. Feels like the beginning of the end of 2022. I think the story of 2022 is a triumph out of 2020, when, as a people, we were pushed to the limit. It’s as close to wartimes as I can imagine this generation going through. There were rations, lockdowns, civil unrest, political unrest, environmental unrest. God works in mysterious ways.
2020 was the beginning of a difficult period in my rugby career. 2020 and 2021 were lackluster. After a knee injury in May 2021, looking back, it feels like the great collapse of my spirit. I had quit in a sense. Believing in our success, and carrying the disappoint. After 7 games I had a season ending injury. What lead to that? I wasn’t professional in the string of loses.
Personally I was running thin. I had saved up enough for 3 years as a civilian after leaving the Air Force. I knew I would have to figure it out after that. Burn the boats, as they say. And so the running of a startup, dwindling savings, and a season ending injury, put me into a quagmire of my own brewing. Civilian life has tremendous freedom and hazardous pickles. I commend you for making it look easy. Obviously some people don’t take it well. We are going through an active shooter epidemic, opiate epidemic, homelessness crisis, and turbulent times in general. More so than the late stage Cold War period. The early 90s were glorious, or at least the cartoons were.
2023 is a new horizon. I have much to be grateful. I have lived on the same street for 5 years. My family is safe. I am coming of age. The sabbatical has been planted and registered. I found peace. I found humility. I found myself. Life is meant to be lived. You can see a simple metaphor on our roads. Every week day at 4:30 pm, traffic swells. Snow discourages many drivers. Rain settles people down. Holidays the road goes quite. Summer holidays the roads are full. It’s the constant ebb and flow of the road. Human nature mimics this road phenomena. Every day you have to hit the road and work, move, show up.
Some major strategic moves are about to show up in my life. After the crossroads period, it is time to hit the road. I do so rejuvenated. I tricked the devil. I pick up my cross. I am going to live my life. Civilian Eric 2.0.
