Roughly 17 years ago, I was blessed to be in England on a wrestling tour. My friend, Clive Cannell was gracious enough to take my fellow ugly American, Trent Zimmerman, and I on a sight seeing tour. One of our stops was to Old Wardour Castle, just west of Salisbury in Wiltshire. "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" is one of my all time favorite films and they used the ruins of Old Wardour Castle in the movie as Loxley Castle. As I walked into the same courtyard that Kevin Costner did in the movie, I remember thinking how cool it was for ME to be there. Me; the kid who didn't have running water in my house coming up. Me; the poorest kid in the neighborhood. Me; the last kid who anyone would think would amount to anything in his life. In that moment, I felt an indescribable emotion; an odd combination of pride, humility, satisfaction, accomplishment, and validation.
Just a few days ago, I had a similar feeling when I was asked to sign a copy of "Dead Man's Breath" for a guy I have known for over 35 years. Keep in my mind that I have signed my various wrestling monikers thousands of times, but signing my given name is still a surreal experience, particularly for someone I have known for most of my life.
As I get older, I am more aware of the need to appreciate moments like these. It's been said in many ways, that life is a journey, and we never know exactly how long ours will be.
To that point, the world is a very turbulent, upside-down, ass-backwards place right now and we don't know when or if things will get back to any semblance of normalcy. That makes it even more important to not wait to live, to strive, to work, to chase and catch dreams, to create memories. Whatever you set your mind to do is possible even in this environment.
Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you soon.
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