Once upon a time, there was a cowboy who was the same age as David and Shannon’s son Benjamin.
He will be two on his next birthday. When the weather permits, Shannon bundles the youngster up, puts him in the stroller, and they do the half mile circle of our neighborhood.
On cowboy’s most recent birthday, Benjamin came to mind. I wondered what he thought when he saw a dog for the first time…..or how he felt when first experiencing the kid’s pool last summer.
These little guys (and girls) see everything with such fresh eyes.
Bob Engle was the catcher on our Mesa College baseball team in 1969. He was a bit older than the rest of us nineteen year olds. Rumor has it he was twenty-six after spending time in the military.
He was awarded the good natured nickname of Fossil. Bob went on to play for CU and then had a terrific career as player development manager for The Toronto Blue Jays. He’s now retired and obviously he came to mind today too.
The sixty six years that separate Benjamin from The Fossil….and from a certain cowboy seem like an eternity.
In reality, those years pass soooooo quickly.
There’s no way we recall the sight of that first dog or dip in the pool. For gosh sakes, these days we can’t remember the keys or why we made the trip to market.
Who’s to say when our time is up, we won’t be seated on a heavenly couch, and treated to a highlight film of the sights, sounds, and memorable moments of our lives.
Oh Yeah…..there’s that first puppy and Oh My….what a blast to discover the refreshing water of the swimming pool on a steamy summer day.
I don’t know about Bob Engle but his former battery mate is thankful to still see things with the fresh eyes of Benjamin.
Grateful am I to be able to savor the countless funny things that happen every week on the tennis court. My father would have given anything to have these experiences. His mundane job at Denver’s Federal Center was boring at best.
The late, great coach Jim Valvano was awarded The Arthur Ashe Courage award shortly before his death. His words came to mind tonight too.
“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, which could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”
May you awake tomorrow with a joyful heart…..grateful that you can choose to see the world with fresh eyes at any age…with faith that this nasty virus will soon be in the rear view mirror.
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