Wow! Thank you for that link! It's Jason at his most honest self in a press conference. I love how he highlighted the volunteers and how welcome they all make him feel. And we now know that he's remaining at the games for another 10 days (from the news conference) and can hang out with his fellow team mates, cheer them on and enjoy the games. No rushing off. Nathan has said the same thing about World's, that he'll make his decision after talking to his coaching team. They both were so focused on this event, I'm sure neither one of them gave much thought as to the next and how they will deal with it. Jason said honestly that being first alternate is hard. As much as I'd love to see Jason at World's and see his incredible skates again, it would mean that he would be going right back into training at full bore. Hopefully Nathan will decide as soon as he has time to process what's happened at these games, but he's under no obligation to do so. We will see! As we have seen before, Jason takes his time making major decisions, which is a good thing. When he decides to commit, he really commits!
I hope Jason writes a book some day. He's got such a unique perspective and a unique career. And it might help him to process all of it in the writing. At the moment, I feel a lot like Jason. Jason brought me into the sport fandom with his Riverdance skate at Nats. My life hasn't been the same since. I've followed him avidly, gone to competitions which I never thought possible, learned a lot about skating and became invested in some other skaters over the last 8 years. Whether his retirement is now, or a year from now, that part of my life is probably headed into retirement too. On one hand you feel sad and wonder what's next. And on the other hand, you feel like it's time to move on. For him, it's his whole life that will change. But I am so grateful to him for giving me this diversion and passion for skating for the last 8 years. It kept me sane and gave me some wonderful experiences and memories. And I'm eager to see what he does next. But the end of an era is inevitably coming and I'm glad that he'll take time to process and think about it. And in the meantime, they will all have the fun of touring together with SOI, and I will have the joy of seeing them!
