The World Cup started today. Opening day of a month-long soccer tournament to determine the best soccer team in international soccer. It's like Christmas if it only came every 4 years - ok, it's not really, the World Cup would be like Christmas if you were expecting a really sweet gift only for Santa to lose the present in the closing minutes in a penalty-kick shootout...

...to the Germans.

There's really no explaining the World Cup to someone who hasn't seen a game or a game-winning goal in extratime or simply doesn't get why soccer could be so important. If you're still scratching your head from the top paragraph it's possible you wouldn't get it. And that's, ok.

I've always seen the World Cup as a time to reflect on how life has gone the last 4 years. How different is your life, your attitudes, than they were 4 years ago? Different? If you had appeared before me in June of 2002 and explained that you were from the future and this is how the next 4 years would play out, I would have thought, "ok, hmmm, that's interesting, good to see Laura and I are going strong. A son, heh? Oh, that sounds fun, good to see we finally started crackin' on that. Boston? Why did we - oh. So don't take that teaching job then..."

This is what I'm talking about - life's twists and turns. I admit, using a sporting event to ponder your life's course would seem strange to most people - ok, a lot of people, but every four years seems as good a time as any.