“This field, this game: It’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that was once good and could be again.” Terence Mann “Field of Dreams”
I haven’t written in a while, over two months.
I was worried my posts might take on too negative a tone and who wants to waste their time reading negativism?
We can see the negatives each and every day on the news.
I save my comments about what I view as what’s wrong with the world for my daily Facebook rants.
I have not been put in Facebook jail yet but feel confident I have lost some friends or followers along the way. Their choice vs my opinion.
Enough about that.
I have not watched a lot of sporting events partly due to in my opinion the things wrong with sports right now, the taking of a knee, the disrespect shown our flag and country by well paid athletes. People who get paid a lot to play a sport. Not to lecture me or be negative about the country from which their riches come.
Enough about that.
I had heard about the Field of Dreams game last year. Like many other events, it was cancelled due to COVID,
Fast forward to Thursday night.
I make sure to sign off of work on time.
By 6:00, I was showered, in my PJ’s and in my recliner.
What I saw was amazing, touching and no surprise, made me cry.
Seeing Kevin Costner walk out of the corn. Seeing the NY Yankees and the Chicago White Sox walk out of the corn. WOW!
The setting, the music, the crowd.
Perfect.
It did make me think back to when life seemed to be simple.
Playing outside until the street lights came one.
The family getting in the car for a ride to nowhere on a Sunday.
A picnic.
Bedtime stories (even if they were the ones now banned from Dr. Seuss).
The trip to find the perfect Christmas Tree from a tree lot. Each one of us carrying a section of the tree. Dad carrying the truck and each one of us holding a part of the tree on an alternating sides with the youngest carrying the tip.
The days when you waiting for the once a year showing of “The Wizard of Oz” or “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.
Dinner with no cell phones. In fact, if the home phone rang during dinner, no one got up to answer it. Dad would say”if it is that important they will call back”.
Answering the phone and not knowing who was on the other end.
Family get togethers when we would hang around the piano and have a sing-a-long.
And dad’s having a catch with their son. (OK some might say playing catch).
I know there were challenges then too.
I prefer to remember the good times vs the bad.
Watching that baseball game this week was magic. Jenn and I nearly scared the dog to death with our screams after the two Yankee homers in the 9th inning and our groans when the White Sox won with a homer in the bottom of the 9th.
At least for a few hours, I was transported back in time to a place where life seemed less complicated and confrontational.
Now I am back to the real world, inflation, border crisis issues, COVID number going up, our government spending money in such a manner that our great grandchildren will still be paying the price and the falling of Afghanistan.
How sad.
And yet, we can still find these moments of peace, joy and wonder.
They are out there.
If you haven’t had the chance, take a few minutes and open this link.
If you do not feel any emotion, you have a heart of stone.
I love this conversation between Ray Kinsella and his Dad.
“Is this Heaven?” “No, it’s Iowa.” “Iowa, I could have sworn this was Heaven.
And one more note; this game had the largest viewership of any regular MLB game in 16 years. Maybe the timing was right. We were all wanting to spend a little time in our past looking back with fondness.
I hope you have all missed me as much as I have missed you.
See you next week.
PS here is another great quote from the movie:
