This post has been in the works for some time now, and I don't really know how I know it's time to put it up here, I just do.
"To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty." -unknown
When I was young, fishing was a major love of mine. I don't do it enough anymore and I really miss it. Some of the fondest times I can recall while spending a day on the lake or a river, are not great success stories about how many or how big the fish were that I caught. But some of the exceptional fish that got away! I remember watching in horror as a friend once tossed his almost brand new rod and reel over the side of the boat, after one particularly large Chinook Salmon broke the line and got away, while only 5 or 6 feet from the boat. I've lost much larger Salmon than that one to be sure. I've lost large fish in dozens of different families like Bass, Trout, Musky and Pickerel, (Walleye) to name just a few.
But I hooked them, I faught them and I enjoyed the challenge every single time !
Playing hockey, I was on 6 O.M.H.L Provincial championship winning teams. We stayed as basically the same roster of players for that entire span, and we dominated this province the entire time. But those are not my best memories of those guy's and that team. No, my favorite memory was playing game 7 of a best of 7 with a Russian Ice Hockey Federation team that came through for an exhibition series. We were 15 years old and just some Canadian kids playing a game we loved. They were a Russian team made up of men who were "soldiers." In case you weren't aware, "Soldiers," is what used to become of the greatest Russian players back in the day. This was done so that the federation could always have control over who played where and when, and more importantly, who went to war zones and who didn't.
Yeah, we lost that game. But we took a great team all the way to game 7 !
I had a fresh memory added just yesterday on the drive to work, there was an accident. A pretty big accident too. I was close enough to know for sure, I could've died. It only would have taken the smallest change in the situation to have changed the entire outcome of the event. If I would have stayed in the lane I was in for another 10 seconds I wouldn't be posting this today, of that I'm certain. If the driver of the Dumptruck would have made his decision to change lanes just a split second later, I would have been dead.
I got lucky for sure. But I choose to celebrate that !
As I hurriedly made my way over to what was left of the car that the Dumptruck did basically drive straight through, I knew I was going in vain. But I had to try to help. When I got to the car, it was confirmed that there was nothing left of the man to help. He was dead. As others gathered around and I told them that there was nothing we could do, I also mentioned that, "I hope he lived his life." The reaction was typical. "Doesn't really matter, he's dead now."
I didn't say another word until the police and emergency crews showed up. Once I gave my version of what happened and all pertanent information, I would be allowed to get on my way. An officer of about my age, wrote everything down and made sure to ask all the right questions, to get the most out of information I had to offer. He then asked, "can you think of anything else?" I'm not sure why, but thought I'd try again, "I hope he lived his life." I said.
The officer looked up from his pad and scratched at his temple with the pen he had been writing with. "I'm sorry?" he muttered, with the all too familiar quizical gaze of the confused. "I hope he really lived his life, now that it's over and all." The officer put the pen down on his note pad at first and then did something wonderful. He flipped to the back of the pad where it looked like several personal notes and numbers had previously been written down, and he started writing. He wrote two words, "Live life." He flipped the pad shut and thanked me for my information for his report. He then looked me straight in the eye, extended his hand out to mine and thanked me for "everything."
I could've and probably should have been dead yesterday, but I didn't die.
So I decided to 'live' a little extra the rest of the day instead.
You know what? I think I'll do the same again today.
"To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty." -unknown
"I hope he lived his life."
-Bam-Bam
"Doesn't really matter, he's dead now."
-The majority
"Quite the opposite my friends. It matters more at that point, than it ever will."
-Bam-Bam
My sincerest thanks for dropping by....
