Thought Of You Today

Been raining all week. This morning started off with a bit of sun and it got me reminiscing. About my youth. About you. Next month marks one year since your passing. We spent the last seven months of your life visiting, chatting after a thirty plus year estrangement. As time passes rough edges begin to soften. Hard feelings fade like a summer storm that has run its course. Rainbows begin to emerge, memories of a happy childhood spent with you. Sports- a vehicle for the bond we shared. I was all about basketball and your support always mattered. You had quite a hook shot back then, hard to block. I was the one with the quick break to the basket from either side of the hoop and the dead-on jump shot from inside the key. But baseball was always your first love. Put you at short stop and no grounder was likely to pass beyond your infield. I was the power hitter, like my fave Frank Robinson. You were more of a singles guy, waiting on base for the hit that would send you home. I recall some of your heroes; Carl (the Yaz) Yastrzemski, Johnny Bench, Pete Rose and of course, the indomitable home run king Henry (Hank) Aaron. Ahh, the baseball games we watched together. The Cleveland Indians at Lakefront stadium. They always stunk back then, but we didn't care (much). And you yelling at Richie Scheinblum to just hit the stinking ball was a party in itself. I never liked hot dogs but when in Rome... Oh, and I used to enjoy poring over your Who's Who in Baseball books and was always in awe of your memory of the stats for many of the players. I wonder if they still make those? Playing football in the snow, basketball in the rain, baseball under full sun, the weather never mattered. We loved sports and through the playing, the sharing, the competition (boy, did we battle it out on the ping pong table, often for hours at a time), the fun, we forged a bond that was partially severed for a time, but never fully broken. Those are the memories I will choose to focus us as the date of your passing nears. Rest in peace, old man. game on the telly ol' Hank hit another one dad gives me a wink