There Is No Skipping To The End

I love a good story. The idea of someone falling from grace, suffering, struggling, eventually paying the price and rising from the ashes is a theme that turns me on. There are as many ways to struggle up that proverbial hill as there are people and so the possibilities are endless. No one gets to the top alive. The top signifies that the game is up, there are no more obstacles and that doesn't happen until death removes the player from the game. The game itself still goes on.

There is no shame in the occasional stumble, nor even in the long hard fall. What happens next defines the players. The learning curve is in direct proportion to the success rate. People willing to adapt and adjust their life styles and techniques have an easier time, but everyone eventually stops playing. Some just quit before their time is up.

I was beginning to think I was one of those people, but I am glad to say I am not.

I thought I was being called to follow the time honored tradition of walking off into the snow and waiting for the great spirit to come get me, only to find myself drop kicked back into the game. It was a jarring experience that left me a bit stunned in the beginning, but it really didn't take too long for me to take up my old positions.

I'd forgotten the story and, more importantly, I'd forgotten I was one of the main characters. In movies and novels, everything happens in abbreviated time spans, but in real life it can take years and there is no skipping to the end to see what happens. It has to be enough that something is happening and I want to be part of it.

So I'm back in the game, listening to the refs blow their whistles, watching the other players as they move and trying to learn the new strategies as they come up, but that's what it's all about.