September of 2021 marked the 25th anniversary since my senior year of high school. That year, and that fall particularly, was a milestone in my life because it was my last season of high school football. I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, an old steeltown where high school football was like a religion - and Friday night games were like a weekly church service. I loved playing football and being part of something that the whole town enjoyed. Even more than that, though, I loved how it connected me to the teammates who, to this day, are some of my closest friends.
I've been friends with some of the guys who I played football with since I started kindergarten in 1984. When you grow up with someone all through school and, in my case, play football with them, too, you can't help but build lifelong bonds. Even though we all went our separate ways after we graduated high school, we've continued to stay in touch over the years, and we're as close as we were 36 years ago. Every fall, for one weekend, we travel from all over the country back to where it all began.
Every Labor Day weekend, we gather together once again in Youngstown to celebrate the start of the football season! The atmosphere of the town around football season is always just as vibrant and exciting as I remember it, and nothing beats watching the Friday night game in the nice, cool fall weather. That weekend is always a reminder of the things that tied my lifelong friends and me together.
Now, you might not be a football fan. That's okay; not everyone is. But I think it's safe to say that everyone has something, whether it be family, a hobby, or even a faith that binds you to other people who you no doubt become close with. And what I want to stress to you is this: those lifelong bonds, like the ones that I have with my high school football teammates, are essential for getting anyone through tough times.
Every day, I work with clients who are enduring some of the toughest struggles they've ever had to go through. In working with them, I've come to find out that nothing gets you through those challenging seasons like a circle of people who can come alongside you and help you through them. I've had close childhood friends to lean on in past hard times myself, and I've helped them through hard times, as well. When you're close with someone, it's not even something you question - you just help them because they're in trouble.
I hope that if you're going through a challenging time right now, you have a community of people that you can fall back on. And, if the challenges you're facing are related to an injury you've sustained in a car accident, work accident, or in some other way that's no fault of your own, you can rest assured that, even though we haven't known each other for long, we at Keefe Disability Law will be there for you.
