Widen Your Stance

The first lesson about balance we learned from a coach.
It didn’t matter the sport, this was the key to stability.
In high school they called it the football position.
But wherever we lined up it was where we started. 

Football taught us to face the opponent across from us.
And within a second, there would be menacing contact.
If you didn’t line up correctly you ended up on the ground.
And a coach would always yell, “widen your stance!!!”  

I was blessed to walk in west Laredo with great souls.
We came from many elementary schools and barrios.
Los Amores, La Ladri, El 13 (nuevo y Viejo), La Guada.
El Cuatro, El 14, Seven Lights, La Azteca, y Las Cantaranas. 

Some guys were immoveable, like cement slabs.
A collection of them were the foundation of a team.
When they worked in unison, we all churned forward.
Every play was a reminder that it starts off by doing your job.

Those Stand By Me memories run deep in our souls.
The laughter with your teammates resonates for a lifetime.
And no matter how life turns out, those moments live on.
Those times are the anchor of our being, our grounding.

Long after I finished high school, I showed up in court.
And Beto Arispe would line up the cases for a judge.
Sometimes you needed a quick setting or a follow up. 
And if you wanted to be successful, you widened your stance.

Beto passed away a few days ago. His words came to mind.
“Si necesitas algo, aqui estoy.”  To that he was always true.
Cruz and Abelito and Chayo worked the courts as well.
I lived a career knowing that they were steady constants.

There is an old color instamatic photo of these times.
Estamos pelando diente in a carpe diem bliss.
Living life in utter glee in a time when we were free.
Those times helped widen our stance, our hold on life.

Godspeed, Beto. Thanks for being my friend.