A Few Laughs

I had been playing catcher. My good buddy was pitching. The softball game was tied in the late innings and there were two outs with the bases loaded.

The batter hit a roller back to the pitcher and I moved to the plate and read the indecision in the pitcher's eyes as he fielded the ball.

"Throw it to first, moron!" I yelled.

"Shut the f&8K up!" He yelled back, as he threw the ball to me.

It was the wrong play, of course.

I caught the ball and stepped on the plate for the out, but the huge guy coming from third had one thought on his mind.

Separate me from the ball.

He hit me like a truck.

I was on my back, absolutely flattened, but I held onto the ball.

Yesterday we laughed hard about that play.

One of the old glory days moments.

Of course, I wasn't in much of a mood to rehash such things, but my brother and a half dozen of the guys stopped by to make dinner for me.

We kept laughing, talking about days on the field, the court, or the golf course.

We talked about golfing for a long weekend in the summer. I couldn't even imagine that it might happen.

"Gotta' talk myself into going pee," I said.

But soon enough dinner was served and they piled a plate really high for me.

"I can't eat this much," I said.

They all laughed.

And while I'd like to say I finished it.

I couldn't.

I left half of the strip steak they made me.

But it was a great meal because they served it with laughter.

Thanks, guys.