A ten year old youngster in Kansas City, Kansas was pictured just like this.
The year was 1960 and the team was The American Alloys Alligators. Many games were played at Segner field where infielders were susceptible to blisters on their feet when the temperature climbed above one hundred degrees.
Sixty four years later, a little tidbit enters this strobe like mind of mine…every year on photo day, I’d kneel on a right knee like these players.
The only difference is that…right before the ‘Smile’ prompt, I would cross my fingers.
For years, this was the case and here’s my take on it.
It seems for certain that a great season was my heartfelt hope in that moment.
Beyond that, perhaps unconsciously I yearned for a rewarding future in baseball and after the spikes were hung up.
Thankfully, the fingers crossed …say a little prayer ritual was like magic. The canyon like void when no look passes and National finals on the diamond vanished were thankfully replaced.
Sally and I have been married forty-five years and I still revel in her mahjong successes, three pars in a row last summer, her globetrotting adventures, and our favorite make your own salads at Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar.
Approaching fifty years teaching tennis, I still exit the club many days telling the front desk team member that I had so much fun that I should pay the students.
Weekly trips to the majestic mountains are like a magnet for this aging angler.
There’s a common trait many fly fisherman share that I’ve adopted …’thank you, Mr. brown trout’ as he slithers from slimy fingers back to his home.
Sally remains number one on the friend list and it’s become abundantly clear over the years that music has been and will forever be number two. Trips to the river used to be filled by Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, The Allman Brothers, and The Zac Brown band. It was like a traveling, enclosed concert hall.
These days it has morphed into more of a chapel with spiritual music from artists too numerous to name. What’s neat is that I seem to find a new favorite every ten days or so…love it!
Maybe it’s all a part of what that younger me hoped and prayed for…a special marriage to a wonderful lady, a child given to a childless couple, a can’t get enough of it career, time wondering if the big rock in the river is a million years old and how on earth did it get there, and heavenly music that reminds me that there are golden trout aplenty in the next life when the real reason for the fingers crossed is revealed.
***. the discovery of the violin reminds me that one day I’ll see Craig again who passed before the baseball photo was snapped and Chris who’ll surely have a large pint in a frosty mug ready when I arrive.
Fingers still crossed that arthritis will be no more and that Emil and I can tee it up at The Golden Gates Country Club where he’s club champion yet again.
What You’re Saying