Today it hit me. I’m really moving. I had a kind of crazy feeling when it did. I was happy to be moving on but I was upset that I was going to be leaving all the things that I love about where I am now. I had my first round playoff game today and we lost it. It was a close game with the score being 3-2. We got the 1-0 lead early but they scored to tie. Then they scored 2 in the third making it 3-1. We scored once more but we couldn’t get the tying goal.
After the final buzzer sounded was when it really hit me. Right then I knew that I would probably never play another competitive hockey game again and my time playing on the Batavia Ice Devils was over. Everyone always says that you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. I think that this is true. I never pictured myself leaving hockey until at least the end of my senior year and even when I knew that I would be leaving I never really thought how much I would miss it. My season ended only a few hours ago and I already miss it.
On the bus ride home I was upset and I guess it was visible that I was because one of the kids on my team asked me what was wrong. There was only a 2 kids including my brother on the team that knew that I was moving because I haven’t told any of them yet. When the kid asked me what was wrong I decided that I would tell him. He didn’t believe me at first but then I told him that it was true. He said to me,”That sucks”. My response to him was,” It kinda does. I’m glad that I’m going to be doing this, but it sucks that I have to leave everything here.” Let me say right now that I’m still 100% sure that I want to move and that this is what God is calling us to do but I know that I will miss a lot of things that I have here now.
Hockey has been so much a part of my life for the last 10 years and now it is gone. I have learned a lot of lessons through hockey. I have put a lot of hard work into hockey and I have gotten a lot out of it. I have had a lot of fun, played in many memorable games, and made a lot of friends through hockey. I remember getting up for practice at 8:00 in the morning when it was just my first year playing and it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. I will remember all the things that hockey has taught me for years to come. Through the sweat that I’ve lost, the tears that I’ve cried, the celebrations, the pain that I’ve had this chapter of my life is now closed.
Filed under: Into the Unknown
Wow Matt, that’s so sad, and yet so exciting at the same time!!!
Why won’t you be playing hockey anymore? Do they not have hockey in Cincinnati? Just wondering.
We’ll be praying for you and your family through this time of transition! It’ll be tough, but God will reward you and make it all worthwhile for following Him wherever He has called you to be!!
You’re an AMAZING young man and I look forward to continuing to watch your progress through your blog!!
We’ll all be praying for you. Your a great man of God already and being around pastor Paul can only help you grow and move forward into bigger things yet to come. I got to know you and your family up at Light House camp and its been a joy growing with you guys. Christian is going to miss his hockey pals. Thank God for emails and blogs
God Speed my friend
Matt,
I also was wondering why you won’t be playing hockey? I hope that if you don’t play competitively you can still enjoy it some other way. I may lose baseball this year so I understand the tears.
I am so proud of you and your family answering this call from God. It won’t be easy but please know I am also praying for you and your family. It has been a joy to watch all of you grow. Blessings,
Lynda
I won’t be playing hockey because…
1. It cost a lot of money and we need to save in everyway possible
2. I want to spend my time on helping with the church
[...] time to read through some of his posts, including some of his thoughts about upcoming changes in This Chapter is Over. He is venturing into a new area with a new blog series called Unlocked. He even made the video [...]