Guest
Dear young self, It’s 25 June 2023, we’re 38 years old and today we will give the final performance of our career. We have spent 26 years on the ice. We competed for 15 years, went to two Olympic Games, won a bunch of medals and were applauded all over the world. Our professional career was over a decade long and we were very lucky to entertain people in a rapidly changing world where telephones (can you believe it!?) rule people’s lives. Some advice… •Skating will come easily to you but don’t be lazy. •When you’re young, you’re going to uproot your whole family and watch them suffer the burdens that grown-ups feel, because of you. Know that when it’s all over, they’ll say, “we would do it all again.” •A bunch of powerful people will offer you the future you dream about but only if you do things their way. They are bullshit. •You’re going to be a monster at times but you’re only hurting yourself. •You are going to have to be strong enough to prove people wrong. •You will feel inferior often, through all of it, and sometimes you’ll choose avoidance and other times you’ll build a brick wall of diva to feel protected. Don’t be afraid of people and don’t compare yourself to them. •It will take you time to be at peace with your regrets and while you tell everyone you have few, they will be many. •Never overlook how truly lucky you are. These souvenirs from the road less travelled are daunting, but now a few things you can be sure of. The ice will make you who you are, in your blood and your heart. This adventure will open your mind and soul to the great big world around you and will teach you the value of kindness, humility and gratitude. Your journey, on its last day, will fill you with so much pride you can’t hold back the tears. When it all comes to a close, with the last notes of Clair de Lune reverberating through an arena on the other side of the world, you’ll be at center ice when the spotlights go out on you for the final time, thinking about the little kid, skating on a frozen cornfield all those years ago & wishing you could tell him that dreams come true. Thank you! Thank you Mama, Papa & Boz.
