On Friday, a lot of Buffalo was hypnotized by new Sabres goalie Devon Levi, especially how he meditates during TV timeouts, and after the game.
and I think about this the next day inside the Supercuts on Delaware everybody here staring out the window as the storm rolls in because of course it is, on the warmest day in months we’re not used to nice things here and when the cold rain falls when the sun slips into a coma, we all fall silent but don’t really want to, it’s called goo goo dolling it’s that thing when your insides feel like mashed potatoes and your mouth doesn’t work, it takes some time to recover relearning all the fun things we can do with words and eventually the stylist blurts out, “Umm, at least it’s not snowing” as I sit in the chair, my reflection sending me telepathic messages Why can’t you trim your own beard and he’s not wrong but my hand isn’t steady all the time, I’m gonna make a mistake cuts that don’t belong and we have too many of those in Buffalo we’ve been living on the sharp end of the edge for so long now it’s where we’ve built our homes, where we love each other but there’s always that sinking feeling in our stomachs that feeling of dread keeping us up at night as we wait for the other shoe to drop, how big and how loud nevertheless we persist, the heavy bags under our eyes overflowing with pain but we do not break, it’s really amazing our hearts are as strong as they are but sometimes we gotta recenter let the world do its thing as we meditate in the middle of it all who cares about the cameras or the critics in the stands because there’s a beautiful dream around the corner, just like Levi finding calm in the chaos, something he picked up from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace when Qui-Gon is dueling Darth Maul and a forcefield appears, he doesn’t freak out, instead he sits down closes his eyes and starts meditating, what else to do but breathe so nothing gets the best of you, thinking about this brings me inner peace and when I leave Supercuts feeling 10 years younger, I don’t even notice the rain coming down hard, the giant Red Bull in my hand or how Bidwell Pkwy is suddenly right in front of me people still walking around despite the mud and other problems when I get out of my car, this dude named Bobby raises his Four Loko and we toast, a torrential downpour of community then all is quiet a few seconds frozen in time and everybody in Buffalo sits down wherever they are and looks toward the future, a sliver of serenity until we’re at it again, up above the sky like an unpaid parking ticket but the Force is strong with us, so let’s calmly rush into the thick of it