Skip to main content

Flashback Friday - Brendan Playing Ball

Brendan and I played a lot of catch back on Chambers/Grove street. He was about what you would expect from a kid just learning: not exceptional, but better with each session. He could catch pretty good and throw pretty good with an occasional wild throw that comes out of no where.

When he got older and we bought one of those over sized plastic bats, he was pretty good with that, too. We even mapped out the yard with bases, and a ball hit over the three-tier impatiens bed was a home run. He eventually signed up for a summer public league and was  really too gangly to run all that well. He was like a colt that is all legs and screwy gyroscope.










Unfortunately he put wild expectations on his performances so when things didn't go well, and in baseball they only go well maybe a third of the time, then he'd get down on himself. This picture is Brendan manning center field with a ball going through his legs for an error and he chased after it with an expression of total disgust with himself, and maybe a tinge of embarrassment.  He is so like his Dad.  I, too, have died a thousand deaths when my expectations didn't match my performance.

That colt is now 6'5" and 250 pounds.  

And on this Veteran's Day I thank you for your service.   Please, today, send a text or say thanks to your friends and family members who have served in the Armed Forces.  With this year's Arab Spring we should never take for granted our freedom and the sacrifice of our friends and neighbors in securing our way of life.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the f...

The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me,  they came right from the MDH website.  I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access.  After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances.  But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs.  I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered.  The original MDH at this site was just the front part.  The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library.  It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place.   He passed away around 2002, I think.  Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...

Statuary In North Straub Park

The Vinoy is not the only park in town.  The place is fairly littered with them, and almost all, except Bum Paradise, are pretty nice.  This is North Straub and they have some old pieces in that seem to have suffered from time and perhaps human folly.     These and some 30 other statues were imported from Italy by local developer C. Perry Snell to help beautify the city.  Mr. Snell was in real estate and during the depression he went on a European shopping trip to collect items for the city.  He obtained these from Italy and installed them in this park even after the bottom fell in the markets.  He fulfilled his obligations at great personal loss to his own company and wealth.  Halso continued to pay his staff during those tough times.  He developed many areas in the city, Vinoy, Snell Isle, Crescent Lake and the beach area down around Fort DeSoto.  He lived from 1869 until 1949 and then buried in Kentucky.  I wo...