The One Year Left

One of my favorite moments from the Larry Bird SportsCentury – and there are a lot of them – is when Billy Cunningham, the coach of the 76ers of the time asked Red Auerbach, the general manger of the Boston Celtics, why he drafted Larry Bird when Auerbach knew that Bird was not going to join the Celtics until the following year. Red responded simply, “do you know how short of a time period one year is?” Of course, it turned out perfectly for the Celtics. Bird joined them the next year. The Celtics had at the time the biggest turnaround in NBA history. Bird won three MVPs, three championships and went down in history as one of the five greatest players ever.

What does this have to do with me? Well, I can now use the Auerbach quote because I have one year left in Panama. It fits the situation, right? Well, it does in my book.

With one year down, I have to say I have enjoyed my time greatly. And I am looking forward to the possibilities that the second year could hold in store.

With that in mind, it is likely that I won’t be updating my blog quite as much during the next year. Why? Well, because this coming year might not be as (mis)adventurous as the past year. Being more familiar with the territory and repeating a lot of the same things, I likely won’t be repeating the same stories. Plus, I’m not a good enough writer to put a different spin on things and make them more interesting. But who knows. The next year might be even more interesting.

Stay tuned.