The headline is meant to evoke a state of soul and spirit the day after going hard, both on and off the ice. The hard truth the morning after often forces us to examine decisions we made the night before, and that we must live with until the next encounter. As I sit perched above The Main, watching the ants scurry about at the foot of my building, I'm struggling to emerge from the fog.
It's not only a dampened spirit, but the worn down body, that reminds us that we're no longer 20 and the accumulation of injuries, of fractures and tears, start to catch up to us, in spite of our best efforts. My realty is reflected in many of you who, in different places, spent many years playing our sport, which is tattooed on our DNA, like warriors who return to the front without regard for the next day, their body or their health. There is a cost to the abuse that we endure. The benefits of giving body and soul to our love and our passion, is priceless like the song says.
It's in the moments of grace, the morning after when all is calm, where everything seems in harmony with the dream and we feel the good fortune of having the freedom to live life fully, and not just as a function of the systems put in place to control us.
Some may find that I am out-of-bounds of the sporting nature of this site with my line of introspection. You may be right, but I would invite you to slow the rhythm of your life, with our invasive technologies and the multiplication of responsibilities imposed on us. Just don't wait for "last call" to find your own path to peace.