Child's Play...

  “…Memory! You have the key,

…Put your shoes at the door…prepare for life.”

- Eliot TS Rhapsody on a Windy Night

You know how it is the seemingly little things that add a certain richness to our lives?  The thoughts that bubble up into the stream of consciousness – lost somewhere in the reaches of our minds and memories.  Lost?  Well, in these moments, we appreciate they are not lost, maybe just tucked away somewhere waiting for an opportunity to touch us once again.

I dropped by the community center this week during my morning walk in the park near our home.  I was drawn to the gymnasium for a couple of reasons: One, I felt a minor urge for a brief metabolic break and knew there was a bathroom in the building, but more than that, the sound of young kids playing basketball caught my attention…basketball!

Suddenly, I was ten years old and just arriving in Fairmont, West Virginia – the son of a Baptist minister.   Our new church had a youth basketball team and Coach Bob, wanting me to feel welcome, invited me to join the team.

There was a small problem – I had never touched a basketball in my life.  The inexperience and enthusiasm of youth, however, is seldom deterred by such detail.

Let the games begin

In the arena of youth church basketball, in those days, kids didn’t practice…they played.  It was in the crucible of play one gained their experience. I found myself on a team, and in a shirt with the church name written in big letters across the chest…a chest, I might add that seemed just a little bigger for having my own shirt.  I was a small kid, with a yet unknown and quite unexpected growth spurt lying a year or two ahead. 

The gym at the Episcopal Church, was conveniently located just across the street from my dad’s church.  We had been in town about a week when that Saturday morning came, with a bright sun and the excitement of this new game - basketball.  Coach Bob was a real motivator and had the entire team excited about the game against those Methodists.  None of the kids had met me yet, so introductions were made and I was given that wary look – you know, the kind that says, “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

The game began and it was exciting - parents lined the wall in the tiny gym cheering for their children and teams.

Coach Bob, couldn’t exactly put me in as a starter, even if I was the preacher’s kid.  He waited until everyone else had played a little.

Preparation...what's the point?

Then came ‘the look’ and ‘the call’ – “Ted, go in for Billy!” I can’t remember being more excited in my life, nor as it turned out, could I have been less prepared.  The other team scored; a teammate took the ball out and tossed it to me.  Tucking the ball under my arm, I ran down the court.  It was clear sailing because everybody seemed to be standing still.  A whistle blew, but I was undeterred…approaching the basket I took the ball with both hands and threw it with all the enthusiasm I could find.

Two immediate problems and one circumstance resulted. 

The problems: one doesn’t tuck the ball under their arm and run down the court without dribbling, AND the idea is to put the ball in the basket – I missed the entire banking board!

The circumstance:  Coach Bob pulled me out of the game after that one ‘run and shoot,’ and I never played again the rest of the season.  Coach Bob was disappointed because he was hoping he had a new ball player, I was disheartened because it seemed there was no future in a game, for all my youthful enthusiasm, I didn’t understand.

It has been said, “Anything worth doing is worth doing POORLY…UNTIL you have enough experience to do it well!”

That is the good news!  There is a resiliency in youth – an unspoken “…hope springs eternal…” that keeps a child motivated.  You know, the standing and falling – the standing and falling that happens again and again UNTIL standing becomes second nature.  It is one of the greatly intimate experiences of life to watch a child succeed in its unrelenting desire to stand and walk.

It is the alphabet, not the novel that starts the game...

 You think seemingly small moments don’t mean anything? 

I would be 12 years old as a second/third string player on a junior high basketball team, before I would make my first shot in a game.  It was against St. Peters junior high and the guy guarding me was Mike Glendenning.  While that shot was the smallest of things to my team members or the outcome of that game – making that shot against that boy inspired me to continue to play a game I later learned to love. 

How meaningful was that shot?  I am 63 years old, at the moment, and still remember the name of the guy over whom I made those two points!  That shot – those two points were enough to carry me through subsequent years in a game that taught me the life lessons of self-discipline, fair play, the transience of defeat and great joys of success.  Those two points carried me through hours in the schoolyard shooting, shooting and shooting some more.   Those two points?  They were priceless!!

Lessons for old(er) folk...

There are those times, when from somewhere deep inside a voice comes that says, “…keep it up…this was a success…this moment has meaning…”  These are the quiet times…they don’t come in large and loud voices, but they are electric.  This is when the ‘still small voice’ reminds us we have worth and meaning.

When memories like this find their way to the surface of my consciousness, I try to take a few moments to immerse myself in them and feel gratitude, because they remind me that success comes from hard work; that truly one reaps what one sows.  As importantly, as we get older, there is a tendency to dwell on what we haven’t done or what we can’t do - the young are not plagued by this.  It is instructive to remember those success moments when they appear –

I am willing to bet each of you has a ‘Mike Glendenning’ moment(s) tucked away somewhere in the depths of your life experience that have come at just the right time and in just the right way – the moment that gave you confidence to continue to ‘…play the game…’ and the hope that tomorrow would be a better day.

These thoughts do not come by accident, nor should they be lightly dismissed.  They might be just the touch needed in the busy course of life – the ‘…two points…’ scored, as it were, to help carry through a difficult circumstance or event - the quiet touch for just a little more hope.

It is said we are creatures of spirit moving through life in physical bodies.  I believe this, because it is often the physical experiences in our lives that contribute to our spiritual well being.  I am guessing this working relationship (spirit/body), has a broader and purposeful meaning…

Thanks Mike…wherever you are.

- ted