Faith, Fortune, and Foxwoods

The 1997 Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings had a saying posted in the home locker room of Joe Louis Arena that read: "Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe". The beauty of this motto is its versatility. You can take it in any way, shape, or form, and apply it to basically any aspect of your life. In the case of the Wings, they had faith in their strategy, believed in each other, and were rewarded with the Cup. In my case, since I let go of the dream to win a Cup by age 16, this saying has popped into my mind numerous times in the past decade. And this past weekend, a bunch.

Saturday morning, I made my first ever attempt (albeit only a few minutes) of Tai Chi. Ever done it? I stood there, on a Yoga mat, body relaxed, arms hanging to the side, incense burning, arms lifting in the air, and I began building my chi. I highly recommend it. You basically form an invisible ball with a force that generates between the palms of your hands and this in essence is your chi. Don says the greater your chi, the happier your partner. That's the ultimate goal, right? Apparently, for beginners, your chi/ball is anywhere between the size of a golf ball and a softball. As your chi grows, your ball grows. As I stood there, in the last year of my twenties, I was thinking about all the things I wanted to do (see blog post 1) and people I wanted to make happy, and could legit feel this ball being formed between my hands. It was pretty unreal. I believed in the process, am in a good place with an overall good state of mind, and was rewarded (or so I was told) with extremely good chi for a beginner and a pretty big ball ... NBD, fist bump. Faith.

So, that started my Saturday. Later in the day, went out for Greek food - love me some spinach pie. Have you ever had your fortune read through Greek coffee beans? Again, do it. As a matter of fact, wake up early next Saturday, do some Tai Chi, go eat Greek, and have a Greek woman tell you what's going on in your life. You can thank me later. The woman who read Nat's fortune was the owner's wife and made a disclaimer that she wasn't very good ... Ha! This was not your average witch on the side of the road in Old Orchard beach asking for $25 and looking to pull you into a dark room behind a curtain. This was for real and a friend, so we went for it. Let's just say she down played her abilities and the reading knocked us on our asses... in a good way. Believe.

The next day Nat brought me to Foxwoods for a final bday surprise. Reward. Ever been to the Big House on Sunday night/Monday morning? Little different scene. Unlike trips with the Moose Man or the Burkes where I may find myself at a poker or roulette table for hours on end, we did a whole lot of exploring, drinking at various bars, and hit up High Rollers - Foxwoods' luxury bowling alley. Golden walls surrounded multiple lanes separated by potted plants and chandeliers which Nat described as "bowling in a Pottery Barn". We felt as though we owed it to our bowling team, Alley Ooops!, to play a couple of frames as we missed out on week 1's win before calling it a night. We'll be ready for week 2.

Faith. Believe. Reward.

Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose.

Marshy