Another farewell...

Baseball
Green grass,
  sunny skies,
    the crack of the bat!
The cheering crowd!  Fun in the summer time.
These are the memories I took with me to the funeral of a friend.


My friend, Doug, died suddenly after a short illness that I was not even aware of.  As we sat at his funeral, I kept thinking of the stark contrasts.

You see, he was the parent of a kid on my oldest son's baseball team.  We knew each other through the fun and the sunny, blue summer days of baseball.  We spent many hours over many baseball seasons cheering the team on to what we hoped would be a victory.  ( Sometimes it was. Sometimes, it wasn't. )


As happens in groups of people, we flock together with those who we feel a kinship.  So, usually, at the games, we'd be in our little cheering/score keeping section.  Almost always, it would be Doug, his wife, Merri, Angie(head score keeper and keeper of the book), and me (assistant score keeper).  There was always a fun atmosphere at the park and I would always look forward to visiting with this group of people.


Yesterday, the mood could not have been more different from the ballpark days.  Doug's wife Merri, and their son and daughter, were greeting the mourners, they were trying to stay strong.  Angie and I sat in silence.   We were still in shock that this could have happened.  The day was as cold, gray and damp as  you could expect a Minnesota January day to be.  The mood was somber.  No sunshine, no crack of the bat, no cheering crowd.  Just sad friends.


As I left the funeral, I chose to remember Doug the way I knew him.  Cheerful, happy, positive, and ready to watch the game and cheer on the boys!  That's what I will always remember.


Hats off to you, my friend.