Today is an exciting day for a lot of players in the DSFL. It’s the first three-day weekend of the season. While us football players love the game and wouldn’t rather do anything else, we’re still employees with families and lives off the field. And as such, we look forward to three-day weekends just as much as everyone else.
But for me, Memorial Day is more than just a three-day getaway from work. It always signified an emotional part of the year. Memorial day is the first major holiday after my birthday (excluding Mother’s Day since nobody ever gets the day off for that). That meant that it’d be the time when my family would get together to actually celebrate my birthday. My father played in the CFL and my mother and I lived in San Francisco, so we didn’t get to see him as often as we would’ve liked. On top of that, when we did get to see him, he was often tired or trying to contact NSFL scouts to make the jump back to America.
Therefore, on this three-day weekend every year, I got to steal my dad’s undivided attention. No scouts would be working over the holiday and my dad’s practices were always cancelled. Since it was right after my birthday, my dad would devote this free time to me instead of to my mom or his other friends. This would be our time together to do whatever it was that I wanted. Often, that would involve just playing catch in our front yard all day, but even that simple activity meant the world to me.
After the accident, Memorial Day became harder to get through. It was just a reminder of my dad’s permanent absence in my life. It took me a few years before I could even enjoy my birthday again, knowing that Memorial Day would be just a couple of weeks after it. However, over time, I was able to reclaim that holiday with my mom. I distinctly remember that after my 18th birthday I asked her if she wanted to spend the weekend together and she lit up with excitement.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’m sure she also missed watching my dad and I playing together outside and living out the perfect family life, if only for that moment. My mom and I spent that first weekend doing everything together from watching movies to going to the beach to even taking a salon day just for us. It reminded me of how lucky I was to still have her and how I still had so much to fight for when I got to a team in college.
Ever since then, my mom and I get together every Memorial Day to do silly things and remind each other that no matter what happens, we’ll always have each other to fall back on. Now that I’m in my second season in the DSFL and things have been harder than ever before, this weekend has grounded me and reinvigorated my passion to keep improving and making history.
Last week, my teammate Grievous and I made history together by quietly shattering two DSFL records in our game against the Luchadores. I had the longest kickoff return and he had the most tackles by a player in a single game. While it has been hard this year to play up to what my team needs from me, this was the spark to remind me that I’m still capable of surprising myself and everyone with greater feats than I ever imagined.
Memorial Day happened to land squarely in the middle of the season and it couldn’t have been at a better time. This break midway through the season is exactly what I needed to refresh myself and prepare for a strong Ultimini sequel with the Pythons. Coming off of a historic game last week and a relaxing three-day weekend with my mom, I’m going to hit the last few games of the season hard before charging into the postseason.
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But for me, Memorial Day is more than just a three-day getaway from work. It always signified an emotional part of the year. Memorial day is the first major holiday after my birthday (excluding Mother’s Day since nobody ever gets the day off for that). That meant that it’d be the time when my family would get together to actually celebrate my birthday. My father played in the CFL and my mother and I lived in San Francisco, so we didn’t get to see him as often as we would’ve liked. On top of that, when we did get to see him, he was often tired or trying to contact NSFL scouts to make the jump back to America.
Therefore, on this three-day weekend every year, I got to steal my dad’s undivided attention. No scouts would be working over the holiday and my dad’s practices were always cancelled. Since it was right after my birthday, my dad would devote this free time to me instead of to my mom or his other friends. This would be our time together to do whatever it was that I wanted. Often, that would involve just playing catch in our front yard all day, but even that simple activity meant the world to me.
After the accident, Memorial Day became harder to get through. It was just a reminder of my dad’s permanent absence in my life. It took me a few years before I could even enjoy my birthday again, knowing that Memorial Day would be just a couple of weeks after it. However, over time, I was able to reclaim that holiday with my mom. I distinctly remember that after my 18th birthday I asked her if she wanted to spend the weekend together and she lit up with excitement.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’m sure she also missed watching my dad and I playing together outside and living out the perfect family life, if only for that moment. My mom and I spent that first weekend doing everything together from watching movies to going to the beach to even taking a salon day just for us. It reminded me of how lucky I was to still have her and how I still had so much to fight for when I got to a team in college.
Ever since then, my mom and I get together every Memorial Day to do silly things and remind each other that no matter what happens, we’ll always have each other to fall back on. Now that I’m in my second season in the DSFL and things have been harder than ever before, this weekend has grounded me and reinvigorated my passion to keep improving and making history.
Last week, my teammate Grievous and I made history together by quietly shattering two DSFL records in our game against the Luchadores. I had the longest kickoff return and he had the most tackles by a player in a single game. While it has been hard this year to play up to what my team needs from me, this was the spark to remind me that I’m still capable of surprising myself and everyone with greater feats than I ever imagined.
Memorial Day happened to land squarely in the middle of the season and it couldn’t have been at a better time. This break midway through the season is exactly what I needed to refresh myself and prepare for a strong Ultimini sequel with the Pythons. Coming off of a historic game last week and a relaxing three-day weekend with my mom, I’m going to hit the last few games of the season hard before charging into the postseason.
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