Enough, already!

Tim: As we walked again tonight in Albany, it occurred to us that maybe we should just say enough and let it all go…”We give up, Lord! Whatever happens let it happen!” We've tried everything else...what else is there to do?

We believe in ourselves and have worked hard to make it in our career paths; for me, it has been in teaching and coaching, while for Candy, it has been a lot of varied things. We have sacrificed a lot for this crazy dream of mine to be a coach. We have both picked ourselves off the floor many times in the last 11 years and tried again. Sometimes I feel like we are one with the floor.

I guess we have finally come to grips with what the reality is for us. Candy and I feel that we need to move forward with our lives and find other opportunities for employment.

I often read this poem that the great coach, John Wooden, got from a teacher in school growing up in Indiana:

At God’s footstool to confess,
A poor soul knelt and bowed his head.
"I failed.” He cried. The Master said,
"Thou didst thy best, that is success.”

The bottom line: if you’ve given all you can, that is all you can do. No one can or will ever take anything away from us; we truly gave everything we could and that is all anyone ever asks of a person.

I have been fighting for something better for so long and have made a lot of mistakes along the way. I want to believe that hard work and dreams make things possible. However, lately everything I have tried has gone unnoticed or has been ripped from my clenched fists. I feel as though I could apply for any job in this world and not be considered.

What do I know about anything outside of sport? Not a whole lot. However, I think a few of my skills will transfer over to whatever I have to do. We have struggled to achieve since we both graduated from college, but the one thing we have always done is survive. We will survive again.

What it really came down to (giving up on the dream) was an opportunity to be something more than what we have been- content with our situation no matter what. The ultimate challenge now is to make the attempt to improve and be the best we can be in the existing conditions.

Who knows? Tomorrow could be a day of absolute jubilation for us both. In the past, I thought only about the future, not the present. As for me now, I will stick to the present. The future is just that and, as we both found out through the Academy disappointment, it certainly is not guaranteed. If tomorrow brings great news or if we have another incredible adventure (I have a feeling that is coming up very soon, whether we like it or not), you will know on the blog.

Thanks to those of you who have been reading these postings. Today, as we headed down to the Twin Cities area, we drove by two truckloads of piglets. I took the photo at the beginning of the post and Candy did her Photoshop magic to make it really come to life. You can get this shot and many more at http://blog.candyrice.com/ or by clicking the "Seatbelt Sign is Off" link at the right.

Have a great day and pray that we live in the present.