Where were you five years ago today?

Here's an interesting fact for you: the 2012 calendar year now matches exactly with the 2007 calendar year (thanks to this years' leap year). Why is this interesting? Well, now it is simple to look back at certain events from the Class of 2007's senior year and say I remember exactly what I was doing on this day. Last Sunday, as the graduates were receiving their diplomas at Fort Loramie High School, I was playing baseball at a friends' house and was thankful I was not sitting in a gym listening to 18 year olds' perspectives on life (no offense to valedictorian speeches intended, but seriously, I've heard one good speech in 6 years of High School graduations, and that was Nate Ruhenkamp's).

Today I sit on a relatively cool June morning, relaxing, enjoying life, and think back five years. On June 2, 2007, everything was the exact opposite. It was hotter than Hades, I was on top of the world and a little nervous at the same time. At this time five years ago, I was playing third base in the Ohio State Baseball Championship game. That was the day that I became not only "Kyler Ludlow, 2007 graduate of Fort Loramie High School," but also, "Kyler Ludlow, 2007 graduate of Fort Loramie High School, and State Champion." In my wildest dreams we made it to that point, but I never really thought much about winning a state title before that. After winning the first game of the State, the general consensus for our team became, "We've come this far, might as well win it all." I remember laying in bed on the eve of the championship and running through everything in my head: the disappointment from the previous years, the hours driving to and from fall ball games, the late nights playing for the ACME team, getting our arms ready for the season by throwing after basketball practice... in January. It all seemed surreal at the time, and even now as I look back, it still seems too good to be true.

On this day five years ago, I wanted to win and celebrate with my friends, start designing our Championship rings, and get ready to go to college. I wanted to live with no regrets and move on with life; get away from Fort Loramie and what I grew up with, and become my own man. Now, after the parties and college have all passed by, my wedding exactly one week away, and a move to Florida coming shortly after that, I start to get that surreal feeling again. The friendships I've made and sustained since high school will prosper no matter where I call home, the hours I put in studying and working toward my professional goals will pay off, and I'll be forever bound to those twenty members of that State Championship team, and the town we brought it to.

Five years later, I still feel proud of what we did that day. My hope is that in five more years I will be able to write that the surreal feeling that envelopes my life today still seems too good to be true. And I'll do so wearing a bright gold State Championship ring on my finger.