Yeah being off the grid doesn’t help me with getting my posts out in time.  So we are a day late but not a dollar short.  I wanted to get this one out because I really liked this week especially one main event.  There are moments when you do things and instantly you know that it is one of those moments that you will never forget.  You know that one day a familiar smell, sound, or event will transport you through time right back to that moment.  For my wife I believe she had one of those moments.  

My wife recently scored 4 tickets to a Phillies game, yeah those Phillies.  It was a game against the San Fransico Giants on 2 June 2017.  She decided she wanted to take her 88 Year old Grandfather.  Great idea I thought, even better I told her she should take her father and brother as well.  The 4 of them could all head up and enjoy a night game.  She agreed and off she went to make some phone calls to make sure it was a go for all of them.  Without hesitation they were all in.  This was going to be a good night.

My father in law and brother in-law aren’t the biggest of baseball fans, but they are always down for a good time.  Plus neither one could probably recall the last time they went to a baseball game with POPS.  Pops on the other hand I am sure was very excited and rightfully so.  This was a man of many talents and one of the most interesting people I have ever met.

Pops once played ball for the Giants back in the 40’s.  He was in the minor league system and has the fondest of memories of those days.  He has a life long passion for the game and played softball until his early 80’s.  Hell I just hope I make it to 80 this man was still hitting softballs and enjoying the game as if he were still a kid.  

The greatest quality of the man is his child like laughter.  Pops always has a joke, normally dirty.  He lights up any room he is in and has more stories than Hemingway.  He has passion for life and it shows when ever he is around.  Many years ago he even got the chance to be an extra in a movie  “The Big Leaguer,” He still talks about it to this day.  

Bubba, Pops’s nickname, tells stories with such excitement and detail even to this day that when he begins to talk the room slows down.  When he gets going you can look around the room and all eyes are on him.  The best is when he chuckles, head back, hands on his belly just laughing away.  

He was this excitement that my wife so enjoyed at the ball game.  That moment that now is forever trapped in time.  There is no way any of them forget about 2 June sitting in the Hall of Fame club talking about great times and enjoying a ball game.  The weather was in the mid 70’s with little to no wind perfect for a baseball game in early June.  The best part she said was when her father and brother got up to check out things and her and Pops just sat there and talked.  She sat and hung onto every word just amazed that this man had so much to talk about.  The man could fill a book with his stories.  

Baseball may be fading as Americas pastime but it lives everyday in Pops.  The game brought him many memories that he now shares with us.  From the time he played in the Giants organization, to the time he played in the Army.  He was offered to try out for the Indians as well.  The only issues is that in those times the game didn’t pay much.  My wife’s family can thank everyday that it didn’t becuase his path may  have been different if it did.  I know for myself I am blessed to have such a great story-teller in my life.  He also reminds me that it doesn’t matter how old you are when a good time presents itself grab onto it.  

Share the stories of your life, share the moments that make you happy.  If I have learned anything over the years is that people love living in the moment of a good story.  Having the ability to make someone smile of the most basic of tales is something special to see.  Pops is a grand master at this.  The years have made one of the great narrator of life.  There are moments when you fell like you are on the field with him, or in the scene of that movie, or playing ball overseas.  The man himself isn’t large in stature but his personality is bigger than life.  This is what my wife will hold onto that moment looking out of the field and just taking in how great things truly can be.  I could almost imagine all four of them sitting there and at the same time in total silence they all smiled knowing that this day will never be forgotten.