Chapter 1
Be Ready for Change and Adventure
Opportunity Knocks
My husband John and I were standing in the kitchen of our home in East Lansing, Michigan, in March of 2007 when our lives changed forever.
John and I had been discussing the fact that it did not seem like I would ever be able to leave to coach another women’s basketball team. Because my Michigan State contract was quite restrictive, it did not appear that there was any chance we could ever leave the state or that I’d have the freedom to work anywhere else.
Being in a place where you want to be forever is one thing; however, being told you can never leave that place is another matter entirely. John and I were confused and physically tired after the unsuccessful contract negotiations. We felt that we had made a tremendous effort to try to find a solution and had finally come to the conclusion that we were going to respect what we could not control and make the best of it. We were rationalizing by focusing on the fact that we loved our neighbors, we loved the town of East Lansing, and we had an incredible team with players I loved who were returning to school. John truly thought I was meant to coach that team; so we had come to the conclusion that perhaps a move just wasn’t in the cards or something we could control at that time.
I was upbeat and excited to move forward. We really had come full circle. Interestingly, there was a calm peace about our conversation that day. We had stood up for our principles, relative to ...
