Evening Walk

I think it's amazing how memories can be ignited so easily .....

A walk in the park tonight. I stood under a tree and watched for awhile, a group of fourteen friends playing Ultimate Frisbee. It looked so effortless ..... as if they could run and jump forever.

Wondered if I hung around long enough, if just maybe they might ask me to join them. My legs suddenly feeling up to it and all.

Then I remembered that I'm old enough to be their grandfather.

But I still yearned to join them!!!

It all reminded me in visual flashbacks of my teenage days. For a time, we had a sizable group of friends and friends of friends who would gather almost daily after school at a local park and get a softball game going. It seems now like it was a lengthy ritual but was probably only the spring of 1974, just before many of us headed off in different directions after graduating from high school.

I wonder tonight if the Juniors and Sophomores among our group kept the get togethers going the following spring?

(I still think of that time as bittersweet. So many friendships and potential friendships soon to be disrupted and even ending as people pursued the next phase of their life ..... College, work, etc. I've always thought of that as the most difficult transition in a life.)

We even attempted soccer once .... maybe twice ..... possibly just to change things up and probably because the initial version of the Portland Timbers had become quite popular. I doubt if we had a complete grasp on all the rules (Off-sides, throw-ins, handballs) or player positions, likely resembling a bunch of five year olds swarming around the ball but we did have a great time, kicking with our toes and executing headers with our faces.

(To Be Continued)