Thank you,

for weaving the greatest joys and heaviest losses into my conscience.
To think, how you always strike a nerve.

Thank you,

for being my first language, for skills to find myself on the field, for the focus to listen out for unique, rhythmic sounds of others.

Thank you,

for seeking out people from all walks of life, for challenging us to leave our differences off the field, to chase a shared love for the game.

For driving my fervor to explore the world beyond the touch lines.

In education, where exams and assignments jest our dissipating patience.

In our careers, with and without the physical ball, but always with something to tackle.

For molding the minds of our future athletes, for beckoning us to dream larger than we see, that we might always believe.

For the roaring and whistling at our heroes and heroines, for the gutting drama that breakaway unfold, for the restlessness a comeback ignites.

Thank you,

for the cheers that you’ve ingrained, for chanting and clapping, for rooting and brawling.

You complete me, which is how I came to be.

This breath of life.

What does it mean, to have a ball at my feet?
Not some game, but a journey through uncharted green.
And journeys, thank God, can only be fulfilled in a lifetime.

Thank you. And never goodbye.

Forever yours, Lauryn