Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Memories … blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

So we didn’t play one, but two games last night. The team that was playing after us didn’t have enough girls to play without forfeiting the game. So they successfully guilted me into playing for them. Half of our regular team chipped in for these guys, one of our girls played on the other team, and our first opponent’s goalie played for our opponent in the second game. I shouldn’t have been playing either game, actually. Turns out this cough was still hanging on and only waiting for me to exert the slightest bit of energy. I spent half of both games gagging in the goal, my body trying to decide between coughing and puking. It was so incredibly lady-like of me.

Well, we lost the first game pretty badly, and won the second game by one point. I would say one goal, but since the incredibly insulting rules of this league give two points for a goal scored by a girl, then I can’t say one goal. So one point it is. After all was said and done, I was exhausted, but somehow it felt great. Gotta get back to the gym.

So why the title of this post, you ask? Well, because last season, I ran into two of my former teammates. Their team was the one that I ended up playing against last night. Not only were they there last night (obviously), but as it turns out, one of our coaches is also playing the league. I know we typically lose touch with people because there aren’t enough reasons keep talking, emailing, whatever. Because of that, I wonder why it can be so great to see people you haven’t seen in ages. Certainly it makes sense if seeing them takes you back to a time that was wonderful. This is one of those situations. The years I played soccer as a Tophatter were just so incredible. Add to that the fact that before last season, I had not seen any of those people in more than 10 years. I was so happy to see Carey last night. I may have even been more affected seeing him than when I saw Jen and Leslie (the teammates) again. That’s what I find so interesting. I’m thinking that’s because he was a coach. He is about seven years older than us which was huge back then, but now we are closer in age, if that makes sense. I could always relate to Jen and Leslie, and the way we relate hasn’t changed. But now, I can relate differently to someone who is 36 when I’m 29, than when I was 16 and he was 23. We were talking about our marriages and his kids. There’s something intriguing about that. On the other hand, it’s not like Carey and I talked for more than three minutes at halftime.

I don’t know, is it really just all nostalgia? I guess so.

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