Hard to believe it’s been almost two years since I last wrote a blog post. No excuses – other than I felt I had run out of things to say. And before I knew it, days had turned into months and months into years.
There’s one thing that has been on my mind lately though. As I meet the parents of new Indians players each year, it seems that they keep getting younger and younger. Not so long ago, players’ parents were close to Bob’s and my ages, and their kids (the Indians players) were about the ages of our kids. But over time, the parents of the players have gradually become closer to our now grown children’s ages, and the Indians players are now the ages of our grandkids! All this seems to have happened overnight.
And while I’ve become increasingly aware that the parents seem to be getting younger, I’ve conveniently ignored the real reason this appears to be so – Bob and I have gotten older!
I easily can rationalize my unawareness of this thing that should be so painfully obvious. Because the age of an Indians player as well as his parents’ ages have remained relatively constant over the years, I never gave it a second thought that Bob and I had not stayed the same ages too! (Great concept. Faulty logic!) As days turned into months, months into years, in my mind we simply had remained blissfully frozen in a time warp, never having blown out even a single birthday candle!
Truth is, since Bob began coaching the Indians, we HAVE blown out lots of birthday candles – thirty-one years worth to be exact. In fact, “Happy Birthday” has been sung to us so many times that Bob now has coached against young men HE once coached; former players have kids playing baseball; and parents of former players cheer for grandkids up to bat.
Ever so slowly, days have turned into months, months into years. Years have slipped by almost without notice, leaving behind decades of memories frozen in time and Bob and I wondering “How the heck did the time go by so quickly?”