Juggling

I know I've already mentioned it in several posts, but I L-O-V-E soccer. The uniqueness (is that a word) of the game, the conditioning it takes, the feeling that you must play as a team and yet one person can make a difference in the game.

One of my favorite aspects of soccer is juggling. The concentration that it takes and the way it really does improve your performance of the field facinates me. I still remember when I first started juggling:

My dad and I would go out in our back yard at our old house, and juggle between us. We would keep track of our record, but we allowed one bounce. (I hope that made sense to everyone.) I didn't really like it at first, it was hard and my dad was better than me and I was usually the one who screwed things up. I think our highest record was 13, and when we got it we were ecstatic!

I beat my personal record again on Friday, now it's 710. Although I know I should be thrilled with that accomplishment, I'm not. The biggest reason is this: Another kid on my team is also really good at juggling, although we aren't super competitive, it is always my goal to beat his record when his is higher than mine and vice versa (sp?). Reubens record is 721. I missed it by 11. Ya, frustrating. But it's ok, Reuben is Columbian, he's better than me by birth :-)

Anyway, as I have been thinking about juggling lately I have realized how similar to life it is; no matter how good I get, I still drop it sometimes. Sometimes I make a really bad mistake, I juggle for 710 times, and all of a sudden, I drop it!

Sometimes in life we think we've got it all figured out, left-right left-right thigh-thigh left-right right-left. We've got a great rythm going and then...BAM we drop the ball. We screw up.

It can be frustrating when we realize we're never going to juggle for our whole lives, we're going to drop it, no matter what, at some point we're going to drop it. But the great thing is that when we do, the ball will always be waiting for us to beat our record again, and we get better every time we try.

The ball is always waiting
- Josh Crowley

The Amazing Mr. Woo