Not Quite Ready...

I hope you all had a very nice Easter. I know we did and we really didn’t need to do much other than go to church and have a nice dinner together, which was easy since the weather was warm enough to barbecue.

Our Easter actually started on Saturday. My wife and I took her mom on a nice drive and we had a chance to see spring start to take off after a wild week filled with rain, snow and hail. But the warmth of this weekend was very enjoyable.

We had a game plan and traveled about an hour out of Spokane and stopped at a nice little business off Highway 2. As my two passengers started on one side of the shop I wandered to another part looking at more of the things that interest me.

After about 10 minutes of looking around, it occurred to me that the husband owner of this shop was somebody I butted heads with on the gridiron over 42 years ago. We also battled mightily on the basketball court.

I can honestly say that we never talked or were even considered friendly rivals. All I remember is him being a very hardworking, competitive athlete who could make your life miserable if you let him.

Because of this thing we had in common I went over and asked him how he was doing. I told him who I was and we began a half hour visit about the communities we live in, some of the teammates we had and we also talked about health issues. Since we are two guys who are nearing the ripe old age of 60, these things are very important.

I remembered how hard this guy worked and truthfully he still looked like he could get the job done. But when he told me that he had a heart attack three years ago, I realized how lucky I was. The only thing I could tell him about my health was the knee replacement I had about six or so years back.

It was interesting that our conversation was geared toward our health and a fair amount of other guys who we played with or against around the Bi-County. We didn’t talk about any of our battles which were always classic and always hard fought. But it was our mutual respect for each other that made for a very enjoyable visit that I had no idea would happen.

There are a few people that we played against who have passed on for various reasons. Some of them were because of unfortunate circumstances while others made decisions to live a hard life that sometimes led to an early passing into the next world.

When two guys start talking about stuff like this, it makes you start appreciating living healthy while always understanding that you only have so much control on this aspect of your life. But living long and strong is definitely a goal and I would hope that is your goal as well.

Being an athlete during your high school years does not guarantee a long life that’s for sure. There are just too many things going on in this world that can have negative effects on all of us. So I guess the most important thing to do is to live your life to the fullest. Give every day your best shot and be a better person tomorrow than you were today and hopefully everyone can leave that positive mark on this world.

I realize that I have fewer days ahead of me than I have behind me and I’m okay with that. But I know that I will do my best to live a healthy life because I’m not quite ready to pack it in just yet!