I stood in the middle of the elementary school gym. Students lined up on either side of a tug-of-war rope waiting for me. I quickly grabbed the rope positioning myself at the end.

A whistle blew and I jerked back to reality. The rope almost slipped from my hands as the pulling began. The motion of pulling and pushing as I tried to anchor myself for the team brings to mind my current season.

This memory of tug-of-war draws me into the present and my summer of waiting. Without a...