For my column last week I wrote a letter to my younger self. I'm not sure where the memories came from, but I suppose that's a thing I like about writing — it allows me to access memories I'd never retrieve outside the process of putting finger tip to keyboard, deadline looming.
I recently read one of these letters of reflection written by Italian football great Gigi Buffon. Athletes, especially those who play at the highest level, are not always comfortable being so frank about this kind of self-awareness; it can upend the fragile in-the-moment mentality they need to compete. Gigi is nearing the end of his magnificent career, however, so it may be easier for him to now confess those moments that haunt his past.
The photo is of my daughters and I on a fishing trip, but not the one mentioned in the letter. Instead, this photo was taken on the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River at the mouth of the gorge where it pours out of the Yellowstone Plateau near Clark, Wyoming. That was another good day I didn't want to miss.
