An email from by best fried from high school started it all. I haven't seen him in probably fifteen years or so. Anyway, I got an email from him last night. The email was not a good one. His sister, who raised him, died yesterday morning from cancer. She was a good woman, obviously. My friend, who we will call "John", is one of the most inspirational stories I know of. He did not have a good home life until he moved in with his sister and her husband. John was always well behaved and at the top of his class. John was a hard worker and loved sports, especially baseball. He was in my class from the early years. John worked hard so he could attend college, which he did, and became a nuclear engineer. He has a wonderful family and enjoys coaching his kids in baseball. I have always respected and admired John and I am deeply sorry for his loss.
As I am thinking back I remember a lot of good times with John. He caught in baseball and I pitched and played shortstop. He was a heck of a good catcher! He was skinny for a catcher but he was tough as nails. We won our conference all four years in high school and our senior year we had five MVP's for our team. We were two of them. I remember going out to his house (his sister's) and watching movies, hanging out, and eating pizza after his sister got home from grocery shopping. One time, when we were playing tackle football down at the school, John got drilled and broke his collarbone. I drove him to my house and I remember him saying when it happened that "It doesn't really hurt". As we rounded the last curve to get to my house he said "Ok, now it does!". We posed for choir pictures in high school and we weren't even in choir! How did we get away with that? The picture made the yearbook! We spent a lot of time chasing girls in different towns. We had girlfriends in Manito at the same time and girlfriends in Delavan at the same time (the one in Delavan later became his wife). He had a purple Gran Torino in high school. What a beast! I remember getting in trouble one time because I missed my curfew because the "beast" wouldn't start. I, with a couple of friends including John, also remember going home between final exams in high school and getting to watch the Cub's 21 inning game. We had many good times and it's amazing that some of these things that occured so long ago can still bring a big smile to my face. So this is to my best friend from high school, although we have times in our lives that are not joyous, don't forget all the good times that have made all the bad times worth it.
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2 comments:
Great Post,
The specifics were interesting and the overarching point is well taken, any time of year. Thanks for a little inspiration.
I was feeling pretty sad at the visitation. I kept trying to fight back the tears but lost that fight on several occasions on the night of the visitation. I felt like I had lost a sister and a mother all at once. Just when I was feeling about as low as I could someone came up and put me into a head lock like he use to do so many years ago. I knew who it was before I even turned around and that heavy heart of mine for a moment was lifted up enough to get me to the next day. Friendship is a very powerful thing that can span distance and time.
All those rag arm pitchers I caught for so many years showed up. I couldn’t believe the turn out and god knows I needed that support. See, our school system wasn’t much different than yours. You form some strong bonds in life when you grow up in a small school system. Anytime you are feeling down, call out to that extended family and friends to help you get through. I tossed out a Hail Marry the other night and when I looked up Mr. C was there holding the ball in the end zone. Just like he always was when I tossed a Hail Marry.
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