Victory Lap

There are many moments in our lives that are pivotal moments. Some are indellible images we have as memories, and some if we are lucky are able to be captured on camera or video. I recently was given a photo that is one of those indellible moments and my childhood friend was able to capture what I think is the best photo I have ever seen. Let me fill you in on some details first, so you have a little history on who I am and where I am from.

I had a thrill charged childhood. I grew up in a family of 8 children. Four boys and four girls. I was number 6. I was born April 3 , 1970 just outside of Philadelphia Pennsylvania. My older brothers have passed on. My oldest brother committed suicide when I was 19 and my other older brother passed about 7 years ago due to diabetes complications . He was 51. He passed a day after my birthday and I cant help to think he had something to do about it. I believe that if spirits could communicate they would do so through other people and through the orchestration of events and situations in our lives. Those "coincidences " we notice happening in our lives would be a good example. A friend I grew up with recently gave me a photo from our childhood and it spoke a milllion words and I believe it was a gesture from the spirit world of love.

The house I grew up in was one block from the beach and boardwalk and directly across from our house was an amusement park called "Wonderland Pier", which is still there today. Before I learned how to sneak out my bedroom window I would lay in bed at nights and fall asleep to the distant sound of people screaming from the thrill of the coaster. I was also two blocks from the High school track and football field. Saturday mornings were magical. I would awake to the blare of the horns from the high school band blaring the fight song right into my bedroom . My older brother was on the football team . The varsity football team. I was captivated by the game . I was obsessed with the magic of highschool. I was slowly coming out of my childhood cocoon. I watched my older brother go thru the trials and tribulations of being a football player and I loved it. I was in awe of him and mesmorised by eventually becoming a grown up myself. I am sure it wasnt so glamorous from his perspective. but from mine it was the best. I looked up to him as my example and I began to build my life around it. A dream was born .

It had such a moving impact on me thatI basically built my childhood around becoming a varsity football player . I wanted it all. I wanted the girls, the cheerleaders , the parties, the pats on the back, the victory laps the huddles , the inspirational speeches the grueling practices in the rain and snow.I was roughly 7 years old and I began to build my dream. I joined peewee football and dove right in. I was small , very small but I had a fierce drive and a fearless desire to become a part of this dream I had visioned . I got run over a lot in the beginning but I learned to love it. It gave me strength and I slowly gained confidence. I went back year after year4 th grade, fifth grade, six grade. I was getting closer to my dream. It was powerful. Every year that went by I became a little stronger , a little faster, a little closer tofulfilling that dream.

I am writing this because of the photo that has surfaced in my life recently . My neighbor had a dream to be a photographer and this past year he emailed me a photo that he thought I would enjoy. In the photo you can see my hometown and the highschool track and football field and you can even see the distant outline of the boardwalk and a ferris wheel. There are two young boys who are running a victory lap with a varsity football player after one of the games. I am one of the young boys and my friend Joe Brown is the other boy . We were 10 years old. We were both peewee football players and shared the same dream of playing varsity football. The photo was powerful when I saw it. It really was a eye opener for me about chasing your dreams and the power of examples and the importance of environment when it comes to manifesting our dreams. What really moved me tho was when one of my relatives asked me who the football player was. I suddenly was frozen in shock when I realised that player was my older brother. It had a very moving impact on me and still does. In fact I believe its my brother speaking to me.

Its been a challenging couple of years and I believe its a message of hope and inspiration.