A decade ago I was still living in Columbia, KY and working at Lindsey Wilson College. What I told myself would be a two to three year stint to get some work experience was into its 8th year of the most wonderful personal and professional start of our then young lives. Jennifer and I had one child, a yet to be two-year old Tristan, and we were living in the first home we owned. I was months away from finishing my MBA and had no idea that in the next year I’d be leaving Lindsey Wilson for my next career stop at Western Kentucky University. 9/11 had not happened, George Bush was just taking office for the first time, I didn’t know what a triathlon was,I was on the golf course every chance I had, The University of Texas at Austin was a place in Texas, and the Ironman was something I’d seen on TV once and thought was only for gods from Mount Olympus or people with a death wish. I didn’t own a bike, or running shoes, and a wetsuit was something surfers wore on TV. I was going through a can of Skoal a week (more if I had a long weekend of golf) and the only thing I did on a computer was email and homework (those porn sites on my Internet browsing history must have been an intruder).
Imagine all the things that could be in the decade to come: Where will we be? What new hobbies will I have? What places will we see? What historical events will take place? Where will my children go to college? What job will I have? Where will social media be? What will my mobile phone do? What goals will I have realized?
One thing has remained true throughout. The same friends I had then are the same best friends I have today, most of which are my brothers/members of this very Team Topper Tri. Whatever the next decade brings, all I know is that I look forward to sharing every up and down with my wife, my children, my family, my brother, and my brothers from Team Topper Tri.
Kia Kaha!
