Unexpected Ending

My brother, a division three defensive tackle, recently had a career ending knee injury during the second game of his senior year. The injury is career ending only because his eligibility will be up by the time that he would be able to play again. Ending a run with something this unexpected is always upsetting. When you get to the end of the line of something that you have enjoyed doing, it is usually very hard to move on, even when you have a definate countdown. Some people never can truely move on. The difficulty of moving on becomes compounded when you are unexpectly forced from doing what you love to do. I really feel bad for him that he had to end his career this way after working so hard to accomplish what he has. For me it was a lot easier to move to the top of my football teams than it was for my brother. He went from getting cut from his high school soccer team to being a fourth string safety to a starting varsity middle linebacker to a starting division three defensive tackle. And between each of these steps was a lot of hard work (and apparently eating) for a game that ultimately spit him out when he was too old and got hurt. Moving on is always hard to do but absolutely necessary to lead a happy life. The worst part is that no one could see it coming. Which is exactly why so many coaches use the cliche: "Play each play like it's your last, because it might be." Although I must admit that this is not a bad philosophy for living.