As the final out was recorded to close out the 2015 Eastern Illinois University home baseball schedule, I found myself wide-eyed and staring at my grandson who completes his final college baseball season. As I watched him walk from the diamond, I thought of other moments in my life when closure was riveting. I remember them all too vividly.
I remember that moment walking off the pitching mound (1961) at Illinois State University. In 1980, I watched my son play his final high school basketball game at the JHS Bowl. It was incredibly tearful on three different occasions when my wife and I left our children on college campuses knowing they would return home but it would never be the same.
I recall that moment when the horn sounded and the curtain fell on my thirty-nine year basketball coaching career. I can see a granddaughter finishing a final cheer-routine at the U of I Assembly Hall. It was a bittersweet moment when another granddaughter closed out her high school volleyball career as her team finished fourth in State Finals.
Don't misunderstand, I feel most fortunate to have done 'my thing' and certainly, I feel a joyous blessing to watch the activities and sports' journeys of grandchildren. Nonetheless, I do understand life's longing for itself as curtains come down awaiting a new cast of players to assemble.
Brushing aside Paul Simon's sobering words, "The nearer your destination the more you're slip slidin' away;' I still have some baseball and basketball games to attend in Granite City; some dance recitals and baseball games to watch in Barrington and well, who knows what-else. My great-granddaughter, not yet a year old, appears to have the moves of a gymnast. Gotta keep on keepin on!
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