Tonight, once again our villagers unselfishly jumped in and helped us to avert a major crisis. A crisis that most definitely would have rivaled any pyrotechnic display that occurred last night on the 4th of July. I can pretty much guarantee, it would have drawn a huge crowd and it would have been louder and more explosive than the fireworks that exploded over our lake last night.
Let me preface this by saying that Scotty has been asking about fireworks since Easter. Every day...all day in his relentless, determined, inexhaustible way. Most years we spend the 4th at the lake with our villagers. Every year at the same time and at the same place. He expects it.
Last night at the last minute we found ourselves without a place to go. Our usual spot far away from the crowds and the chaos was closed. Knowing what a devastating blow this would be to Scotty, our villagers quickly jumped into action. Our friends Dave and Karen, who live near the lake asked one of their neighbors...a stranger...if we could watch fireworks on the grass near their lakeside home. Certainly they were told and pointed them towards an area with a picnic table on the side of a cliff overlooking the lake. Perfect.
So Karen packed us a cooler and Dave shuttled us down to the lake in his golf cart. It was a spectacular night with a soft breeze, a full moon, good friends and not a mosquito in sight. It was perfect...almost.
In a perfect world, every year all of our villagers would be there sharing in Scotty's excitement. There would be the laughter of dozens of children running around with sparklers and baseball games played under the lights of the exploding fireworks. There would be the warm feeling of being surrounded by family that would envelop us all.
Those were our "Sandlot" days...and they were magical.
Unfortunately, as the years have gone by and our children and the children of our villagers have gotten older they have moved on to other places and other things hold importance for them now. They are not children anymore, and sadly they have lost their childlike wonder of the sparkling display that lights the night sky.
They have long since left Never Never Land and left behind is the little boy who will always wish they were all there. Scotty will never be able to understand the passage of time or the growing up and moving on of the only friends he has ever had. He will forever occupy this place and time with the same excitement, the same innocence, and the same wonder that he did twenty years ago.
And it makes me sad for him and a little sad for me too.
As we watched the fireworks last night I found myself very teary-eyed and nostalgic...wishing once again for the "Sandlot" days of the past...and missing dearly all those sweet faces of long ago.
"We all lived in the neighborhood for a couple of more years-mostly
through junior high school-and every summer was great. But none of them
ever came close to that first one. When one guy would move away, we
never replaced him on the team with anyone else. We just kept the game
going like he was still there."
The Sandlot
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| Karen and Dave we really can't thank you enough...this could have been a very different picture♥ |
The previous blog I am highlighting this week is Welcome to our Village. If you would like to read it CLICK HERE
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