The Guy With the Gap
I used to walk into the pre-match meeting and high-five everyone in the room. Take the piss out of someone, get it back twice as hard. The room was alive
identity
10 am on a Tuesday
I took my son to an appointment this morning and had an hour to kill. We're planning to build a house, so I decided to drive around the
What the sky looked like
Eighteen years chasing a championship. We won. I raised my arms, looked at the sky, drove home, and went to bed. The feeling was relief, not joy.
Before you can afford to say no
A Lamborghini drove past me last week. Bright green, loud, impossible to ignore. My first thought was immediate: I would never drive that. I've had that reaction for
The boy between the buildings
I walked past the apartment blocks where I used to wander as a kid, looking for a girl to love me. I recognized the feeling. I'm still doing it.
Before I Could Predict
I played my best rugby before I knew enough to overthink it. Then I learned the game and the predictions killed the thing that made me good.
The Room After the Match
A room full of teammates who'd known him for over a decade. He died four days earlier. Nobody was sad.
"I'm Fine With That"
I said 'I'm fine with that' like I was doing them a favour by accepting. I was trying not to smile.
She Moved On Untouched
Everything that had escalated inside me had existed only there. She moved on untouched. I carried the weight.
Four Climbs. One Mountain.
Same trail, same weather, same day. Four people, four completely different experiences. Neither was lying. Both were telling the truth as they lived it.
The Forest Was Not the Problem
A friend called from Norway blaming the terrain for his pain. The forest was fine. Twenty kilos too heavy and years without training was the problem.
Easy to Approve Of. Difficult to Inhabit.
At nineteen I got out of a car without thinking. At thirty I'd talk myself out of the same instinct for weeks. The signal didn't change. I did.