be like a tree

I’ve been around the world twice and talked to everyone once.

Well, at least it feels like that. I will always call the Adirondacks my home, but I have moved around more than most. I can thank supported parents and hockey for that.

Hockey has taken me from Lake Placid, British Columbia, Massachusetts, Rochester, and Nashville, with the road leading to Oregon. I have grown, kept, and lost so many strong connections over the years. Always moving.

We have a saying in the Moles Family - “No mold on the Moles.”

Adventure was engrained in me as a young child, to say the least. I’ve traveled throughout North and Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East. I have surfed the waves, skated the rinks, climbed the mountains, skied the powder, swam in the Dead Sea, drank the tequila, and lived as the Romans do.

Looking back at the young age of 31, I have lived by the mantra:

Anything in life worth doing, is worth overdoing, moderation is for cowards.

My wife and I certainly overdid it on our last Europe trip.

We traveled to - Munich, Zurich, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, NYC, and the Adirondacks. Many memories and many different beds than our own.

This is living baby!

We drank from steins, hiked the Swiss Alps, and admired new buildings and culture. It was a magical trip.

but

Our community, friends, and family are not there.

After such a go-go life….After many new teammates, coaches, teachers, mentors, cities, and sidewalks…you realize what life is all about.

Life is about your family, friends, connections, and love at the end of the day. At the end of the day, it is only natural to slow down and come to this conclusion. At the end of the day, it is not about what we said or did but how we made our people feel.

Have you seen Love & Death on HBO?

There is a scene at the dinner table where Candy & Pat Montgomery debate life's meaning. I couldn’t find the exact script, so bear with me on the paraphrasing.

Candy wants more, more, more…she wants life to be exciting and leave a mark on this world. She is aggressively pestering Pat on what he thinks about the meaning of it all. Pat has no answer. He is getting more flustered by the second.

Finally, he bursts and says, “I don’t know, Candy! What do trees do? I think you should be like them - plant your roots, start a family, grow.”

As I get older, I think we all grow from Candy’s way of thinking into Pat’s. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t build things, go after your dreams, or leave your mark on this world. However, as stoicism teaches us, all those peasants, kings, conquers, and common folk who have come before us end up in the same place - dead and forgotten.

All you can focus on at the end of the day is caring for your people. Focus on your present moment. Enjoy your little blimp in time.

Take Pat’s advice and be like a tree.

-Molesy

---