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SewingWithNancy · 06-14-2021, 11:00 AM

Denver Star Tribune

Moving on and seeing ghosts?

Written by: James Kawnwalder, from the diary of Nancy Violet

8-22-26

Looking around the room, walls are barren, carpet divots where furniture used to be, a mountain of boxes by the front door. Sean is on the phone with his dad talking about the travel itinerary. Movers are filtering in and out of the apartment grabbing the last of the possessions. I look out of the freshly cleaned windows of Sean’s corner loft overlooking downtown Portland. This apartment has seen lots of joy as well as lots of sadness.

Looking at the kitchen island, I see us celebrating him making Captain of the Timber with a bottle of champagne. I see us celebrating the Timber advancing in the playoffs over in the middle of the Great Room with some beers. I see us sitting in silence after a big loss on the couch in that very same room. Are these what ghosts are? Just memories of emotions of past experiences? I like to think so.

It’s really a bittersweet moment. I haven’t seen Sean all season as I have been traveling the country taking care of my other clients and seeing them off to their new teams/leagues. The life of a sports agent is an interesting one. These kids are my business, they put food on my table and essentially pay for me to live, but the relationships seem to go deeper than that. Sean was my first client, and I feel like he is my friend. I’m not here on business, I’m here to help ease my friend’s transition from his first team in the Juniors up to his new team in the Pros. We’ve barely spoken since I arrived as he has been constantly juggling the odds and ends of logistics.

He wanted to stay in Maine as long as possible before the big move. I suggested he get to LA as soon as the season was over so that he could get settled, but he refused. He hasn’t verbalized anything negative about this move, but I can tell this is hitting him harder than he thought it would. He wanted to drink in as much of Maine as possible before the new chapter begins. All summer he has been hiking in the lush forests that surround Portland, learning to sail in the bay, and drinking/eating in all of his favorite places. Eating lobster rolls constantly, cause he knows he wont really get that quality out in LA. He didn’t need to verbalize his feelings he has for Maine, but he has been screaming it in his actions. I shouldn’t be surprised by any of this though, he did the same thing in Denver before he moved to Portland. The bonds he made with his teammates is pretty strong. I know he is gonna miss Puddles O Duck, Dogwood Maple, and Duncan the Walrus. Those 4 have been inseparable all off season. He even took in the new Trees that just got drafted. Knowing he wont play with them, he still made sure he showed what Portland had to offer.

Knowing him, he won’t say a word, and will be happy as a clam once he gets on that plane. Its the lead up to that flight that is so powerful. We will get on that plane, and he will finally look out the window, give a big sigh, then look at me and say “Well Nancy, here we go! Off to LA in style”

Things are all lined up, for when we land. All of his belongings will be following us in trucks and will arrive in a few days. The movers will furnish his new apartment for him. Sean will be living at a swanky hotel downtown for a few days while all this takes place. Jimmy Wagner offered him a room for the transition but Sean wanted to stay downtown because he thinks he will have a better chance to see celebrities. I just rolled my eyes and laughed when he told me his reasonings. “Sean, I dont think youre gonna see any” was my response but the kid just laughed and rolled his eyes back at me. Once he gets an idea in his head, its hard to tell him otherwise.

Next week pre-season starts and Sean will finally spend the majority of his time with his new teammates. I wish he would have done this sooner, but leaving Maine early just wasn’t gonna happen. The funny thing is that while Sean was doing all the things in Maine, he was doing his research on LA as well. He wasn’t just sitting at the brewery drinking beer and doing nothing. He was on his laptop looking up LA breweries, restaurants and bars. He was scouring google maps in his soon to be neighborhood getting a lay of the land virtually.

“Nancy!, Hey Nancy!” Sean shouts from across the room. “Are you ready? What are you looking at? Something going on out there? Youve been staring out that window for 10 minutes now”

“Yeah im fine, just thinking about this wonderful place”

“Well come on, we gotta get a move on, our flight leaves in an hour. Lets go, lets get me to LA”

I slap Sean on the back and smile. “Come on you little Tree, we gotta plant you out in Cali”

Walking out of the room, not a single box is left, I must have lost track of how quickly the movers emptied the place out. I take one last look inside seeing all those “ghosts” and smile while I close the door.

WC 975

***KaleSalad*** · 06-14-2021, 11:11 AM

Great Article! Sean was amazing in Maine and can't wait to see what he is able to accomplish in LA!

dogwoodmaple · 06-14-2021, 12:00 PM

It was an honor to play alongside you! Maine forever.

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