Saved.One.by.Grace
New member
As I've mentioned, I was sick (bedridden) almost every winter. I remember my mother asking my pediatrician, in front of me, how my various sicknesses would effect my longevity. My pediatrician pulled the cigar out of his mouth long enough to say "he'll live just about as long as anybody else, put the cigar back in his mouth and left the room. That stuck with me and still sticks with me. Why would she ask that in front of me? My mother always played up to doctors and pharmacists for sympathy, having a weakling as a son. My wife believes I was a victim of Münchhausen's by proxy. I don't know. There's no way to prove or disprove it. It's been too long ago.
So I wasn't thought of as a weakling among my peers, I never backed away from a fight, a game or a challenge. I may have told this before, but I usually got picked last or next to last in sports, especially sandlot baseball. I was known as a good infield glove but I had a problem judging depth on fly balls in the outfield. I was a good hitter but never hit for power. At 5'7" and 120 lbs there wasn't much I could do about that.
But one day a group of guys we didn't know asked if they could join us for a game. Two guys would pick teams. The guy who didn't know me picked me first from watching us play, and I then help him pick the other team members. I played 3rd base and he played SS. I hit 4 straight home runs to centerfield, the only home runs I can ever remember hitting and played error-less in the field. It's a day I'll never forget.
When we weren't playing ball, I spent time with another group of guys. We liked to ride our bikes down to the Mississippi River. There were a lot of bluffs there and a dirt cave under a scenic overlook asphalt parking lot some 20' above. We didn't know who started the cave but we worked it for weeks taking it from about 5' deep to 10'-15' deep. It was nice and cool in the back. One week after we stopped using the cave it caved in. No one was there at the time.
A friend of mine, J. and I used to spend a lot of time together. I helped him on his paper route and he exposed me to another side of life - a tougher side of life. Most of the bluffs were we were at were probably 1-story or so. But J. and I had traveled to another area were the bluffs were a good deal higher. He started climbing and I followed. The bluffs were vertical, so I climbed handhold to handhold, foothold to foothold. Sometimes you had to go sideways before going up. It was exhilarating. But as I neared the top, I started to worry how I was going to make that transition. Fortunately, there was some weeds with stout roots that enabled me to finish the climb. A few years later, I read James Dickey's book Deliverance. It had the best description of rock climbing (at least as I experienced it) that I've ever read to this day.
(To be Edited, Added to, and Continued)
So I wasn't thought of as a weakling among my peers, I never backed away from a fight, a game or a challenge. I may have told this before, but I usually got picked last or next to last in sports, especially sandlot baseball. I was known as a good infield glove but I had a problem judging depth on fly balls in the outfield. I was a good hitter but never hit for power. At 5'7" and 120 lbs there wasn't much I could do about that.
But one day a group of guys we didn't know asked if they could join us for a game. Two guys would pick teams. The guy who didn't know me picked me first from watching us play, and I then help him pick the other team members. I played 3rd base and he played SS. I hit 4 straight home runs to centerfield, the only home runs I can ever remember hitting and played error-less in the field. It's a day I'll never forget.
When we weren't playing ball, I spent time with another group of guys. We liked to ride our bikes down to the Mississippi River. There were a lot of bluffs there and a dirt cave under a scenic overlook asphalt parking lot some 20' above. We didn't know who started the cave but we worked it for weeks taking it from about 5' deep to 10'-15' deep. It was nice and cool in the back. One week after we stopped using the cave it caved in. No one was there at the time.
A friend of mine, J. and I used to spend a lot of time together. I helped him on his paper route and he exposed me to another side of life - a tougher side of life. Most of the bluffs were we were at were probably 1-story or so. But J. and I had traveled to another area were the bluffs were a good deal higher. He started climbing and I followed. The bluffs were vertical, so I climbed handhold to handhold, foothold to foothold. Sometimes you had to go sideways before going up. It was exhilarating. But as I neared the top, I started to worry how I was going to make that transition. Fortunately, there was some weeds with stout roots that enabled me to finish the climb. A few years later, I read James Dickey's book Deliverance. It had the best description of rock climbing (at least as I experienced it) that I've ever read to this day.
(To be Edited, Added to, and Continued)