The first thing that I can remember being truly passionate about was the game of football. I mean good old American football, not what we here in the U.S. call soccer. From the first time I strapped up my pads and put on my helmet at the age of eight I was addicted to the sport. I LOVED football. I lived to play football. I walked, talked, ate, drank, and slept football. I played football during the season and trained my body religiously for football in the off-season. Football was my god and I sacrificed everything at its altar, including my knees. When the doctor informed me that I could no longer play the game I loved I went into a very deep, very dark place. I felt as if the world had conspired against me to crush my spirit. I was lost, set adrift. My disappointment in the world, and in myself, was all I could focus on. I stopped caring about family, friends, my education. I just wanted to drop out of life. Some people run away and join the circus, me I ran away and joined the military. You may find this hard to believe but six years of indentured servitude, not to mention participation in a full-on war, has a way of adjusting one's priorities. It's a crucible that separates what's real from what's bullshit. While I can't say I enjoyed my time in the military, I must acknowledge the net positive effect it had on my life. By the time I was discharged I was a fully functioning human being again. Moreover, I had become a man. I still love the game of football, but it's not the unhealthy, obsessive, stalk-your-ex-girlfriend kind of love. Now it's just an appreciation of its beauty and admiration for those who play it well. I have other passions (Duke basketball, online gaming, my G&L guitar I've nicknamed Blondie), but none have approached the level of football in my heart. I guess there is nothing like your first love. I have very recently started writing and find that I'm becoming very passionate about it also. I've always been a hands-on, physical, neo-Neanderthal kind of guy. I never dreamed that I could become passionate about word usage; that I'd get excited when I string the words together to say just what I wanted to say exactly like I wanted to say. I'm not just talking about this blog. I've started writing a novel. I don't know if I have any talent as a writer, nor do I care. I find that I just enjoy doing it. Isn't that what passion really is?