Maybe we should call the creation of memories ‘memory labour’ because often to create the things that really stand out in our lives, the flags in the sand, that we can look backwards towards when things are difficult or hard, are hard work.
As I record this blog, I'm in a hotel room in Zurich after two extraordinary days of travelling and meeting and observing and scheming and creating but I am completely exhausted, and my throat hurts, and my legs hurt, and I want to go to bed.
Right this minute I don't feel massively inspired or massively upbeat, but I know that in two or three days and weeks and months’ time I will look back at this as being one of the most extraordinary trips of my life.
Just not yet.
The image that you see above associated with this is part of a video which is here.
This is an extraordinary story in my life and in Callum’s and in the creation of memories.
If you click here, you can watch what happened in the Cup final for the Mustangs football team that I coach and Callum plays in, in 2022.
We played against a horrible team in a stadium in Ilkeston.
We know this team of old. They are pretty nasty, and we managed to cling on to the game, having been able to score to go 1-0 up massively against the run of play and then being 2-1 down into the second half.
About two minutes before this video, we'd managed to scrape in a corner and take things to 2-2 and then the Mustangs won a free kick through Callum on the edge of the box.
So, watch the video, it's pretty clear what's going to happen here, but I have now watched this video about a million times for one reason or another, and for me, it actually gets better and better every single time I watch it.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I get goose bumps and a swollen heart because I'm so proud of what happened, understanding how hard Callum worked to get to that point and how much practise he put into taking free kicks but that's not the point in the labour of creating memories.
As Callum stepped up to take that free kick, I was on the opposite side of the pitch with Louis and Tim, my co-coaches.
I was stood right beside the horrible manager of the other team, who was already complaining that the free kick should never have been given.
About 15ft behind me in the seats in the stand were two boys that I had to leave out of the team because we were only allowed to take 15 players.
I'd had to tell those two boys the day before that they wouldn't be part of the Cup final team and they were sat behind me and I felt absolutely terrible.
The game was pretty full on, we even had a 4th official to try and keep order on the side lines and so when Callum struck the free kick and it hit the back of the net, I immediately turned around and walked towards the two boys who were sat in the stand.
I'm not exactly sure why I did that, and the fourth official said to me “you should be celebrating”, to which I replied, “that was my lad that hit that” and he said, “you should be celebrating more” and I just went to see the two boys who'd been left out to make sure they were ok and to celebrate with them.
So, I missed the whole celebration on the video and never saw any of that.
Memories are funny, aren't they?
I look back at that as being one of the best times in our football career together for Callum and I but my back was turned while he was celebrating and I was walking in the other direction.
That's a little bit like the way it is tonight, sat at the desk in an empty hotel room.
My back is turned and I'm walking away from Zurich only to look back in a week or two's time and tell people what an extraordinary experience it was.
Making memories is hard work sometimes, but it's usually worth it.
Blog Post Number - 3400
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