Just weeks ago but what seems like months, I did something that I hadn’t done in a year. I slammed on my burdensome helmet and buckled the chinstrap that would keep me safe, stilled stained with the beads of sweat of past owners. It was the first day of a grueling but rewarding football season, which I nervously waited for kicked back in my brightly colored beach chair. I hadn’t eaten all day and my insides were churning but it was a sickeningly arid late afternoon and I was ready for go time. I might have been the biggest guy out there but on that dreaded first day I was still nobody. I sat anxiously waiting to be told what to do while I watched tiny freshman mill about like cattle, surprised by the seeming hordes of them and most of them probably more carefree then me, not knowing what insane tasks might lay before them on that field. Finally after long minutes of anticipation the coaches stepped out, scary and unknown football aficionados, some old, some young and even a new face. Even my own football veteran father, also a coach, seemed cool and distant when he had that jet and tan coach’s uniform on. Tan being a result of the dust clouds that would rush aimlessly through our practices only to be kicked up from another dragged foot along the desert floor. They began barking orders, some decipherable, some guttural, and we all sprinted, legs pumping at full speed, to wherever they asked, afraid of the possible and quickly applied punishment. Punishment ranging from a biting remark to countless laps around the dusty bowl we called “the practice field”. But as the day passed away I became more confident and noticed the beautiful day around me for the first time since my arrival just hours before. The sun was out and a baby-blue sky painted its background, the sweltering dusty air had turned surprisingly crisp and refreshing and even the foliage seemed to have a more vibrant green. It had been a tough day, compared to my laid back days of a more than relaxing and worry free summer, but had paid out and I felt rewarded for my full-bodied efforts, I knew then that it was going to be a fun season.