Days To Remember (for ultimate effect, play 10,000 Maniacs while reading)

Cheering on our boys, sitting in our chairs and in the stands, Scott Rolen's hometown, amazing facility, ultra-clean bathrooms, no-humidity spring-like weather, cornfields in the background, 

is it central or eastern time???

ties with teammates that run deep, red uniforms and blue pinstripes, playing the Mafia, organized with excellence--Pesce style, top notch lunch for team and family, seeing old friends from home town, sunshine and breezes, Patriot uniforms scattered across three different fields, teams cheering on one another, hanging out with Paducah friends,  

 wiffleball on the riverwalk, 

Indiana pizza that can't be topped, baseball teams becoming like family, 

getting addicted to cornhole,

 good music in the background, 

siblings of players becoming fast friends, playing by the river into the dusk of the evening, 

is it central or eastern time???

thirty boys swimming in a 10X20 space,

 

running through the woods with cousins, walkie-talkie spying, 

black and red uniforms, score tower stress, pacing behind the bleachers, looking across the park and seeing Sunday morning Patriot chapel, teammates praying together,

T-E-A-M acronym: Together, Encourage, Adjust, Masterpiece, 

sitting in the bleachers with the parents, friends looking out for each other's kids, losses stinging for just a moment, 

 is it central or eastern time???

 grilling out hotdogs, swimming in the cousin's pool, watching the Celtics beat the Heat, 

Holiday World bright and early, driving on Indiana backroads to get there, swimming and riding rides with teammates, 

private lunch at the Kringle banquet hall, sweet speech by coach, 

perfect weather and no lines,








soft drinks always on hand, trying to talk Grogans into roller coasters, watching the DIVE show with fear and awe, rough housing with coaches in the wave pool, 

is it central or eastern time???

Owen and Anderson sliding and sliding and sliding, 

the staple log ride and old time cars, teammates chanting 'Wes! Wes! Wes!' while walking down the hill--still no Grogan's gonna ride a roller coaster, Holidog frenzy, parents popping Advil after rides...

...gone in the blink of an eye, but remembered for a lifetime...

Scores will be forgotten but the relationships won't.

Time--whether central or eastern--is fleeting.

These are days to remember.