Fantasy Sports

Let me start by saying that I love Fantasy Sports. I have played in Baseball and Football leagues and I have started a few of my own. Fantasy Sports leagues are often maligned. They are said to be for losers with no lives. Guys who live vicariously through their fantasy sport teams. I look at them differently. Anything at this point in my life that gives me something to look forward to each day. Something that keeps my competetive juices flowing. Something that helps me keep the little mind I have left active is a great thing. I enjoy meeting fellow sports enthusiasts in my leagues. Some Sundays Lea and I go the local sports bar and watch with amazement the fun that everyone is having following their fantasy players. The ability to talk and interact with strangers is so much fun. Fantasy Sports or Facebook and Twitter. Such an easy decision for me. Try it and you may even like it.

Time

Time is that wonderful thing that starts ticking the moment we are born and counts down till we demise. Time is also knowing when to hang it up. We all do that many times in our life. We add and lose friends throughout our lives starting in childhood. Realtionships come and go. Spouses come and go. Jobs come and go. Knowing when, though, is the tough part. I know people who stay in terrible jobs. Live with non compatible people. Are married to the wrong people. They have friends who stretch the meaning of the word. When is the time to stop something?  I had many jobs while I was in college and I knew any job that restricted me so I couldn't freely communicate with my co workers when I wanted was not for me. I hated department stores and factories or any sort. I found out early that I could only have friends who had some of the values that I held to be important. The toughest things I left were my children when I got divorced, teaching High School, and some of my dear friends in Rhode Island. I did know that for each of them it was time to hang it up. The marriage had run it's course, 30 years of teaching was enough to have accomplished what I wanted, and my friends were dear but I knew it was time to move on. People know when it's time. Is it hard? Incredibly hard. Heart wrenching. Does it have to happen? Yes! You can't hang on forever. I am getting older now. My body is visibly changing. My abilities in certain things are diminishing. Will I have to make more compromises? Sure as hell but I will. Moving on isn't so bad because you always move to somewhere or something else. Until it's time to hang it up one last time.

Till It's Done

Sports are an interesting metaphor for life. Every game I've watched or played in has played out the same way. Taken as individual plays or points clouds what really happens. Sure the individual play or point can be thrilling or disastrous. That is when taken as one portion of the whole event. Each play or point leads to the next one and so on on till the conclusion of the game or match. Each subsequent play wouldn't have happened without the previous ones. The final score is what really counts. All the errors and singular plays are forgotten.  I think that happens with one's life too. Every bump in the road of life, every success in life, all contribute to the whole of one's existence. When we die a person's entire life is looked at as a whole. No one would have reached that end without one event having a profound effect on the others. I know when I look at my life there are many strikeouts and double faults but some aces  and hits too. Each one led to a part of life that never would have happened without them. Everyone needs to realize this and then we wouldn't despair so much when maladies come our way. Just a part of life so deal with it.