Old writing from Afghanistan 2008

Everything made sense today for about 30 seconds.
Maybe it was the 105degree heat and the near glowing asphalt basketball court i was batting around a hockey puck on, but it did happen.
I skated my 35yr old ass over to the rickety Army bench near the basketball court i skate on and cracked open a water. Skating on ice much less summer in Afghanistan will sap you of all water and turn you into a living Pringle potato chip.I leaned back and downed a bottle of h2o and looked at this area of clouds that were themselves skating across the Afghan blue sky.
I stared at the wispy white clouds and forgot i was in Afghanistan.The sky in view cancelled the peripheral scenery of Army Humvee and Hesco barrier walls.I could smell my elbow pads and feel the strain of skating used body parts in the old failure combinations coupled with the taste of sweat running down my face.--I was on a tennis court in Wanamie Pennsylvania-I was also in a penalty box in an ice rink in Pittston Pennsylvania, I was also in a large PX parking lot in Bad Kissengen Germany.
All those places were not linked by the act of skating. They were linked by the act of me in mental and physical dialog with me.
I'll explain.
When I'm skating it's a series of split second decisions that get strung together into one fluid act..like a jazz band. The mind pushes the body to do what is completely unnatural and improves upon each variation of any given task. Sometimes you get really hurt. But if you think about it , chances are even greater that you'll be hurt or worse yet become afraid of it.
It's like that trust group therapy thing where you fall backward and your friends catch you..this is how you do that- by yourself.
Looking up at that sky with this floating into my head i felt stronger and happy to a degree. but the thought faded leaving me with the certainty that there was a whole lot more to be revealed..