Full Circle
Tomorrow morning, we leave for Phoenix so I can play my last tournament of the season with the Seals. A year ago, I took my ragtag little team, Code Red, and we sucked ass. Lost every game and never really came together as a team. I guess I wasn't as good at assembling personalities as I thought I was. There was a lot of in-fighting among the team and way too much drinking.

Some of the crap that happened there, on and off the ice, set off a chain of events that had a seriously negative impact on my life last summer, and indirectly, led to some shit that was even worse, bad, icky stuff that I may never be fully able to leave behind.

All that stuff has changed me, made me stronger and yet, weaker. Although I understand the value in conquering adversity, really, last year from May on was simply too much for one short period of time. I know they say that God (or whoever) only tosses you way as much shit as you can handle in one day, but there were far too many days where I thought, no, this is way more than a day's worth. There are days when I still think that.

So we're going back, Andrea and I. Together, stronger, more secure in so many things. Of course, the Seals are a much tighter team than Code Red. At this point, we have two first place finishes under our belts and I know I'd like to take a good stab at a third, if to do nothing else than erase some of the ghosts that the word Phoenix brings up in our house.