A tired and aging man lays his head to the pillow the other night (or some night in the last few ones) & it would not be long before the experiences of his memory would take him away to very , very long ago ....... and mix things up a little bit , but I knew that it was all very real .............. I was kind of slow in coming out of a slow bar the other night when an old friend was coming in & he asked me to go back inside with him for a little while . I wouldnt have done it if we hadnt known each other since we were 12 years-old or so . He bought a round for two middle-aged men that once were opponents in the greatest game ever played at Oak Park and we had a couple of girlfriends back then that we thought we were in love with , too . As 15 year-olds with me a pitcher for the Yankees & he a first baseman for the Red Sox of The Huntsville Civic League , we went up against each other a few times in 1974 ......... but as we sat in the bar drinking a couple of cold ones & speaking of The Glory Days & old girlfriends , I realized those games & those girls of yesterday had made us friends that could never really let go of each other ....... kind of like having a child with someone & then divorcing the one that helped you create the child ........ you just cant really walk away from something special . As I was a pitcher at Oak Park who had struck him out more than any other , he had hit more home runs than any other batter . As a hitter , he had hit more home runs than anybody else in the league , but had never slapped one off of me until he made me cry with a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of The Game late in the season in 74 . The next year , we became old enough to start dating & began dating the first loves of each of our lives . Both of us were too young & too stupid to know how to really treat a girl ........ so neither one of us ever really let go of ballgames & pretty young girls . I took a sip of a near-empty beer & said , I never liked the way you treated Robin . He smiled , took a sip of his Jack & Coke and said , I never liked the way you treated Pennie . I said , I can still strike your gray-haired ass out . He smiled & said , Ill stamp another grand slam on your sorry ass if you ever give me the chance . .......... and we both had a good little laugh out of that . He never told me , but I could still see some love in his eyes when he spoke of Robin ......... and Robin would pass away from cancer in 2002 . I dont know what he could see in my eyes , but Pennie would begin living one block from me in 2010 . She & I have a mutual love-hate relationship understanding . Shes blocked me again here on FB & I completely understand that . Hell , we all make mistakes , but Im pretty sure that Ive made more than my share . My life-long friend finished off his drink & said that he had to get on home for his grand kids were coming over with his son & his wife for supper . I walked him outside , shook his hand , told him how good it was to see him after over 30 years & wondered if I would ever see him again . I got into my car & headed home to my loving wife . On the way home , Bruce Springsteen was telling me how , time will slip away from you , Mister , & leave you with nothing but boring stories of Glory Days . I woke up about 5:00 am , sat on the edge of the bed for a minute , thought about where the last six hours of slumber had taken me ............ and it felt good to travel down The Highway of Life again .
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 00:39:45 +0000
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