Surround Yourself With Good People

To give some background for this post, my stuff was stolen from a meeting room at the Layouts fields on Saturday.  I've been compiling a list of what was stolen for the police, so I thought it necessary to balance that by compiling a more positive list to share with you all.

Last week, I wrote a post that has a lot of relevance to life outside of ultimate.  It's been an especially challenging week to be my best self, made easier only by this point in my last post.

Surround yourself with good people.

"I am who I am and I strive to be better because of these people."

- Naomi Trang (Texas) for shouldering a large share of the burden for making Centex happen these past few days.  Please find her and thank her this weekend.

- My teammates, co-workers, and friends for keeping the show going at Layouts while I frantically tried to cancel credit cards and file a police report.  I am not sure I would have made it through the weekend without them.

- My co-workers at VC Ultimate, especially my boss Adriana, for taking on most of my workload this week so that I can focus on everything else.  I am blessed to work for a company who believes in what I am doing.

- My teammates and family for supporting me even when my work takes me away from them for weeks and months on end.  You all deserve more of my time and attention, and that is on my immediate list of priorities.

- Emily McAfee (Swarthmore) for spending hours with me Saturday night trying to help me figure out how to begin recovering my identification documents.

- Lien Hoffman (Northwestern) and Rebecca Enders (Wisconsin) for their messages which reduced me to tears.  I am so grateful to have known both of these outstanding players and people since they were freshmen.  Players like the two of you, and teams like yours, make what I do worthwhile.

- Kate Wilson, Angela Lin, and Katherine Wooten (Ozone) for housing me and helping me try to get a same-day passport in Atlanta.  It is humbling to have your regional rivals respond so resoundingly to an email of desperation.  I am grateful for my friendship with the three of you, and with Ozone.

- Rachel Johnson (Phoenix) for finding me a place to stay in Jackson, MS.  Thanks for being relentlessly positive.

- A group of Pleiades players (and Shellie's mom) for taking shifts at my apartment yesterday to make sure someone was there when my replacement credit cards were delivered.  It is embarrassing to have to ask for this kind of help, but I am so grateful for you.

- Ohio State Fever for all of their help in trying to make next week easier for me.  It has been such a privilege to see y'alls path to the elite level.  Thank you for being a team who does things the right way, on and off the field.

- The many other people who have texted, emailed, and called to check in.  Thank you.

I will be driving the last 10 hours to Austin today.  I am feeling challenged to be better because of all of you.  I can be more kind and more generous because at the end of the day, nothing that was stolen matters more than the good people I have around me.

See you in Texas.