It's time to let go of ONE GOAL. The last set of page proofs -- they're called "second pass" proofs -- are due back to my publisher. There's no rewriting at this point. Just checking on errors we've caught to make sure we've corrected them, making sure all of the various edits we've made over the last several months are in place. Photo captions? Check. Names? Check. The team's cheer? Check (with thanks to Dr. Nahed Nourredine for making sure that everything in Arabic worked with the font change). So it occurs to me:
This is the last time I will read ONE GOAL.
It seems like kismet that as the Lewiston High School Blue Devils close their season as state champions, I am closing the files on the book. Their win over Portland on Saturday, 1-0 off the head of Warsame Ali -- the younger brother of Muktar, who was a hero in 2015 and finishes his senior season as a captain -- assures everyone that Lewiston soccer's legacy is sealed. While the 2015 team was, from every angle, a dream team, these new victors show us the continuity of the game in this city.
The younger set stepped up. There are more behind them.
This community, I have no doubt, will continue to make champions. And while I had a few hours of thinking that I needed to write a postscript, an addendum, a few words at the very end of ONE GOAL that makes reference to this recent victory, I've now decided to let the pages stand. In so many ways, this is a story that can't have an ending. Soccer will continue to be played on the streets and in the parks and on the fields of Lewiston. Coaches and mentors and community leaders will continue to make sure that those who want to kick a ball, can.
And there will be more championship games. Of that, I am certain.
But for now, I am done reading ONE GOAL. But I can't wait for you to. February 27, 2018. In a bookstore near you.
VIDEO credit: Russ Dillingham, Lewiston Sun Journal via You Tube.