"Any Time (I Am There)" (ELEGIES: A SONG CYCLE)

I ventured into spring season 2005 with a new team and a new league. I had finally moved over to New York Urban. Now they are the ones who run the open play that I had gone to, but I also stuck with my first league, Big City, and my old team. We had stayed in Big City because it worked out for everyone else's schedule. BC schedules your games on the same night every week so you have a set schedule, but they also have a few rules such as not receiving a hard hit with an open hands and one toss on a serve. These seem like really simple things when you start playing the game, but after a few seasons they start to get on your nerves. NYUrban doesn't guarantee you a specific night every week but they give you a league schedule in ample time to coordinate your schedule with. I've noticed over the years that more people start with Big City but end up moving over to NYUrban. Just an observation.

I think there was only one time when I was not able to make one of the games because they were scheduled at the same time. There were times when they were scheduled back to back at different gyms, but somehow I would make those games. It was during this season I took a few weeks off to go home for personal reasons. My grandfather had been diagnosed with cancer, and I wanted to assist in staying with him in the hospital. That is the drawback with being so far away from your family, you aren't able to help out as quickly as you would like to. My extended family had fixed schedules spread among the children and household tasks taken care of by the grandchildren during my grandfather's illness which had been about four months. When I arrived, I spent almost every night with him in the hospital, sitting with him, reading stories and just talking yet he was not responsive at this point. I got ready to go back to New York after a couple of weeks with plans to return in another month. I was arriving back in NY in time to play two games that very night. On my way to the airport, I visited my grandfather and told them that I would be back in a few weeks, a "see ya later." His eyes blinking to give me a response. I don't believe in "goodbyes." I got on the boarding line at the airport, and my dad called me at that moment on my cell and said that my grandfather had passed. I rushed out of that airport, emotions guiding me when my mind was failing. It was not supposed to happen this way, I was supposed to "see ya later." Yet he was telling me "goodbye." Sometimes we are reminded about embracing the ones around you, who make a difference in your life, to keep living for today because tomorrow is never guaranteed.