Beautiful

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How much beauty do you think you'd find at a kickball game on a dark summer day where rain is threatening?

Well, when you're in North Collins, New York, every year at the end of the July, there's beauty as far as the eye can see.

It's there in the older folk who are trying to kick a ball and run down to first base without falling on their face.

It's there in every dropped ball and every sip of Miller High Life.

You see, kickball is the game favored at the memorial benefit for a great friend of many. Cathy George passed away at a young age. Her friends and loved ones are having a hard time letting her go.

And that's a good thing!

A beautiful thing, actually.

I headed to the tournament this year, not as a player, but as a friend. I wanted to be let in on some of that wonderful grace. Of course, Cathy was a friend to everyone in town. Of course, her brother, mother and father are legendary friends to us all, but there's even more that brings us all together.

It's just about beauty.


You see, Cathy's friends are tireless in their efforts to make the event a great time. From the beer salute at 2:19 to the basket auction, to the hot dog van, to the kids smiling, to friends gathering.

Damn, it's just beautiful.

I spent a lot of my time there talking to friends who mean the world to me, but all the time I looked around and really listened.

What I heard more than anything else was laughter.

Pure, wonderful, unencumbered, BEAUTIFUL glee.

Certainly Cathy would be proud of her friends, but as I watched one of the games I wondered if her friends were also proud:

Of the beauty that they bring.

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