Friday, September 26, 2014

All things Fall

...and all things change

October is fast approaching and I am still in America for the first time in four years. It is a bizarre yet comforting feeling. I've gotten to experience the coziness that comes as summer heat dissolves the turning green leaves to orange and yellow when they drop from their branches.

I was able to see the raw emotions of nervousness and excitement that accompany the start of a new school year, and for two sisters a brand new school. New schedules, teachers, friends, environments; all the beginnings that come with growing up.

I watched Bronco games on the comfort of my family and friends couches instead of in the wee morning dark hours in a European apartment.

I've seen the stores pull out their hoards of Halloween decorations, always far too early, but in way more abundance than in countries where the holiday is barely recognized.

I've felt the warmth of a Pumpkin Spice Latte around my hands on a cool day with snow in the forecast, only for the next day to be gorgeous and sunny, it is Colorado we are talking about here.

Yes, seasons do happen all over the world along with the events and items that come with them. But to get to experience these things not in the midst of double days and in the first stages of figuring out a foreign land, was about as refreshing as the cool air blowing through my windows as I drive to meet old friends for a reunion.

Europe has given my past four years a chalk full of memories, experiences and friends. But just as it is necessary for Summer to change to Fall, it is necessary for change in all our own lives.

At the end of last season in Hamburg, I knew I was ready for something different. I just didn't know what that something was. As the summer progressed a new, different opportunity came to me. A place I had never been in the world, a length of a season that was durstically different than the typical 9 month Europe gig.

So here I am, packing my bags, yet again. With not a whole lot of certainty on what lies on the other side of where I will claim my bags except the destination and the date.


Sunday 28, 2014 I depart Denver and 23 hours and 5 minutes, 2 stops later I will arrive in Manila, Philippines.

Year number 5 of playing professional volleyball is about to begin, and looks nothing like the ones that have come before it. Change; it's inevitable in life, it's a matter of whether you choose to embrace it or not.