I experienced a really interesting phenomena (if you’d call it that) over the weekend. I was in the Gold Coast, my dance team had performed and we were all waiting anxiously for results. I’d predicted third place, I was pretty sure I had it right too. Judge gets up, grabs the microphone in what feels to be the longest 3 seconds possible:

“Third place” … not us

“Second place”…not us

I’ll stop right there. I know you’re all waiting anxiously to find out the result, as was I. But i just want to describe this moment to you all; perhaps because I myself haven’t quite wrapped my head around it. I’d went into nationals thinking, ” Third place”. I’d watched all the teams and still concluded, “Third place”. Everything changes when they’ve called out third and second. All of a sudden I found my heart racing at a billion miles per hour as I thought, “maybe we did win”.

“First place”… not us.

You’re probably thinking what the hell I’m trying to get at writing this Blog. I don’t want to be a victim of cynicism but I have and I am certain I will experience a multitude of these moments in my life. I’m not simply talking about expectations and disappointments. No. I’m talking about the way life sometimes makes you think you’ve hit the jackpot. It then turns around, laughingly as it comments, “oh, you were so close”. I don’t blame life. I don’t blame us either. I think it’s some kind of innate predisposition within us to throw logic out the window and replace it with pure hope at times like this. Despite all this, I’m never gonna stop hoping. I’m never hear the judge announce “Second place” and think, “hey, maybe next time”.