Wow, it has been a while.
So much has happened since the last time I posted but I am glad to say that I am getting back on the blog bandwagon. Promise I'll do at least bi-monthly posts.
There has been a lot that has been going on, hence the lack of posting, so I'll pick this past weekend to speak about and the rest will come later.
This past weekend, I took my last trip to Indianapolis for my last National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) meeting in which I was one of 31 representatives, representing the student-athletes of the Big Sky Conference in which Sacramento State competes in.
The weekend was, to say the least, interesting. It was so extremely bittersweet to meet all these wonderful new representatives from different conferences and say my goodbyes to everyone. Of course, I sobbed like a little baby, but this committee has weened me off milk and gave me a big juicy steak to satisfy my professional career's appetite.
It has helped propel me to walk out of the tunnel of graduations ambiguity and onto the open road of the worlds endless career options. All the liaisons to the committee and members of SAAC have been with me through nine bumpy, pot-holed forks in the road, nine meetings filled with heated debates, plenty of piggy backing and plenty of embarrassing moments when we, or maybe just me, got it wrong.
During my time on the committee, I walked through the end of my collegiate rowing career, the start of a new job at the conference in which I was commissioned to represent, the engagement to the love of my life, the move from everything that was familiar in California to the foreign land of Utah, and three deaths in my family that affected me beyond measure.
The amount of growth that was experienced both during those nine meetings and just during the two years time serving the committee will be a time marked with nostalgia and filed away under the "Golden Years" in my memory. It's a time of my life I will be telling my grand kids about around the campfire and common ground I will share with the members of the committee.
The weightiness and importance of this committee will be the common ground in which I will meet it's members, my friends, upon time and time again. The "Remember when..." 's will ring true for years to come.
From NCAA office in Indianapolis, all those room keys from the Westin to Denver, to Atlanta to Washington DC the day before the first black US President's swearing in.. All the NCAA rules and regulations we learned of and all of the acronyms we had to learn. All the interesting people who came to us for our opinions, the first time I realized the NCAA really truly stood up to it's word to serve student athletes, and the two times we lost to DIII in kickball in July (which I'm expecting the new members to win next year..)
Every memory has been put in it's place. Every friendship cherished. Every late night text message. Every meeting's new challenges. Every game of hot seat, every joke and every piece of hot topic legislation discussed. All of it summed up into one great experience. All of it something I will remember years from now.
"Memories are the treasures that we keep locked deep within the storehouse of our souls, to keep our hearts warm when we are lonely," - Becky Aligada
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