Moments D424: Summer Solstice

Happy summer to each of you!  Today is the longest day of the year and it marks the beginning of summer.  It also, for me, marks the beginning of a new perspective on life.  Today's moment is two-fold for me.  The first a very deep and personal shift.  The second, spending the evening on the beach, playing volleyball on the longest day of the year while watching the sunset and the near-full moon rise.  Stunning.  Could it have been more perfect?

It's funny how quickly things can shift.  I find, it's even more significant when those shifts happen to occur on significant dates.  Today a shift on the solstice and near-full moon.  Damn.  Now that is intense!

Why the shift?  I'm not sure.  I've reflected upon this question without finding a true answer.  Part of the answer is that it really is time to celebrate me and my deepest needs.  Without a doubt, I've been avoiding this due to circumstance and simple fear.  When you hear of death (and there have been a few this past week, far from me, but close to my friends), it shakes you.  It's not in my personal circle, but it still shakes you to see how it affects your friends.  This had me stop to think about how short life is and how (again) every day much be celebrated.  WHY ON EARTH was I living in fear?  WHAT was holding me back?

The answer was simple.  *I* was holding me back.

It is time to let go of the fear, time to full be in the moment and plan my future.  Come what may, I want to find a reciprocated love.  I want to share my deepest self.  Today the season changed and this deep, life-altering change happened within me.  I am ready.  Throwing caution to the wind, I opened myself up a little more deeply to the signs around me.  I have opened myself to embarking on a new path.  A path I have previously run from for fear of the unknown.  One that now is in my sights and is fully illuminated (and believe me, the pun here (being the longest day of the year) is not lost on me!).  This a path that brings me much joy and hope.  A path brings a flutter to me that I haven't felt in a long time. Come what may, this summer is going to be the experience of a lifetime for me.  For me, it begins today.

Moments celebrating the summer solstice and the rising moon.
Moments allowing the flood of sunshine and moonlight to find me and give me the courage to celebrate my deepest inner-self.

Moments D127: Teamwork

Today, the end of beach volleyball season arrived. It marks a solemn day as it equates with the end of the summer. The days are growing shorter. The evenings have a chill in the air.

As I sat around the table with my team of 8, I remember not long ago when we had our night of matches. That night we struggled to play well. We were, after all, new to one another. We had never played together before. I remember going out after the first round of games and everyone introducing themselves around the table. It was quite a moment as I, being the captain of the team and the thread that pulled all these people together, most of the stories had me attached to them.

I remember feeling a touch uncomfortable as I don’t like to be in the spotlight. I also remember the watching the forging of new friendships and I remember, over the weeks that passed our triumphs and our losses. But throughout it all, we had fun. We had a lot of giggles and a lot of laughs.

The piece that stands out most for me today, on this final day of play with this team, is that as a team we pulled together. As a team, those in need of learning, learned. Those that had experience shared. The cheerleaders who, no matter what challenge we faced, were positive and kind with their words. And those of us who pushed for more concentration and control. Together we supported one another. Together we lifted one another and taught one another.

This is not new for me, as I’ve played on many teams or partaken in many team-building activities. But, there was something special about this particular team and today’s moment is dedicated to them. As I looked at my team tonight at the bar, I smiled as I soaked in their conversations from a distance. New friends, new team mates for a new season and lots of laughter.

Today’s moment is dedicated to the two lovely ladies and the five incredible men I shared my summer Wednesday nights with. Thank you for your teamwork, your dedication and to a summer of fun volleyball filled with smiles and laughter.

Moments of teamwork.

Moments of reflection.

Moments D125: Rain Storms

Today was the playoffs for my competitive co-ed 4’s beach volleyball team. We did well (finished 2nd), but better yet we played well and had a lot of fun doing it. But, while those two hours on the beach were filled with smiles and moments to share, the one that stands out most was watching the rain storm roll in.

The storm clouds started filling in the evening sky around 7:45-8pm. We were in the middle of our championship set of 3 games when the organizers broadcast that we needed to shorten the final game in the set to only 15 points due to the storm coming in.

While playing my favourite sport, on a beach (also a place I love, the sand, the water, the breeze), I watched a fascinating storm brew in front of me. Within minutes the bright dusk sky turned dark. The lightening was quick and hard to see as it danced amoungst the clouds and only rarely broke to hit the ground below.

We finished (lost) our game shortly after 8pm. By the time the nets and lines were wrapped up and handed in, the clouds began to break under the weight of their wares. It was a slow release, just a misty sprinkle at first. I quickly walked to my parked car, which was about 8 minutes away. If it were 10 minutes away, I would have been drenched!

I got into my car, turned it on and did a U-Turn. By the time I was straightened out, the clouds gave up their fight and the heavens opened up. This was no simple rain storm. It was as though someone had tipped the bucket and the bucket had no end. (My fastest setting for my wipers was not fast enough!)

It was that moment. That moment where I smiled the hardest today. I was happy with the activities of the evening, but happier still that I had just missed the torrential downpour of rain by a mere moment. Sometimes, I am that lucky!

Moments to watch rain storms.

Moments of luck.

Moments D81: Burnt Feet

First, I’m sure you are wondering how burnt feet could possibly be today’s moment. And secondly, you are likely wondering how I managed to burn my feet!

First things first: Try playing beach volleyball at high noon on a hot hot day. The sand gets hot. Typically I have insensitive feet. Today the sand was unbearably hot. And yet, I continued to play beach volleyball…to a point where burying my feet into the sand didn’t help. (In fact, it made it worse as the hot sand on top of my feet managed to burn the top of my feet too. So now, as I sit and write this out, both the bottoms of my feet and the tops are burnt and tender! HA.

Secondly - this becomes today’s moment for two reasons. First it reminds me of my childhood when I would play basketball in the driveway barefoot. I can’t even tell you the number of times I burnt the bottoms of my feet. It’s not for realizing they were burning, but being stubborn that I didn’t want to stop playing and put on shoes. Yes…some things never change.

The second reason is because for the last two hours at the beach I just sat back and watched the others. I enjoyed sitting under the umbrella, eating and drinking while watching the others play in their sand socks. (Mental note to self, pick up sand socks next week!) What a treat it was.

Moments of memories.

Moments of relaxation.

Moments D75; New Friends, Hitting & Poutine

Day two of the tournament was a bit heartbreaking in terms of moving into playoffs. But just because we weren’t winning our games today didn’t mean that we weren’t having fun.

I’ve met some pretty incredible people this weekend and I love hearing new perspectives and sharing stories. From highly personal conversations about breakups to team sharing on skills and volleyball play tips. That’s one great overview moment.

Another was, that I was given a chance to hit in a couple of games. As a setter, hitting is rare. Everyone wants to hit. It’s the glory of beating the block, or rolling it into an open area and winning a point. Not only did I get a chance to hit, I hit, and I hit well. I didn’t realize it at the time, but one of our teammates was taking pictures during a game I hit. Some of those images are fantastic. Now, not only do I have my memory of that moment to bring a smile, but I have a photo too! (love my teammates!)

And one final moment to share. I gave in and had a BIG helping of poutine. So bad and yet so good. I figured: I had worked hard all weekend. I MUST have worked away those calories already - right?

Moments of conversation.

Moments of learning.

Moments of glory.

Moments of deliciousness!

Moments D74; Blocking

This weekend is all about volleyball. Well, okay, maybe that isn’t entirely true, after all it’s also about my teammates and enjoying the outdoors. But primarily the focus is enjoying some great beach volleyball.

Today was the start of our 6’s Intermediate tournament. It started off a bit dreary (a bit of drama and a storm passing through) and our day was delayed by nearly 3 hours. Still that didn’t sully our team spirit.

Once the clouds departed we were left with a beautiful sunny (albeit it windy) day to play our tournament. It was a fantastic day filled with 12 games filled with many moments and much laughter But today’s moment is one that may be seen as a bit selfish, for it was MY moment and it brought me much joy! And in fact I had two such moments today. I had two big blocks today!

Standing at a mere 5’4” (and a bit) I can barely reach the top of a volleyball net which is set up at 8’. That, dear friends, is just the top of the net. In order to do a block, one needs to get higher than that 8’ mark to be able to your hands in the way of a spike coming over the net. A beach volleyball is ~25” around. All together that means that someone my height would need to a vertical of at least 4 feet (57” in fact) to meet contact with the ball.

I share these details with you only to give enough information to you to understand why, for me, blocking is so challenging and how incredible it is that I managed to “stuff” another player. Now I’m not saying that the net was perfectly set to this height, nor the ball perfectly inflated but it does paint the picture well….

So the best moment - was against a particularly challenging team. They were winning and we were struggling to keep them from collecting points from us. They had many good hitters and we were not doing well with returning them.

As a setter, I’m in the front line a lot and I don’t do a lot of blocking because it is difficult to go up and get back down in time to be set for the pass off of a spike. But I was tired of them hitting hard and us not receiving, so I gave it a shot. I went up for the block and low and behold, I stuffed the 6’ something guy trying to kill the ball over to us. I think we were both shocked! What a glorious moment that was, to know that I had overcome a height restriction and managed to get enough of my hands on his hit to stop it dead. It was pretty amazing.

The second block, was later in the day and it was on the last rally point of the game. THAT is how you end a game. IN YOUR FACE YOU AREN’T GETTING THAT POINT!! Ha!

All in good fun of course.

Moments of shocked amazement.

Moments of pride.

Moments that rally a team.