It’s that time of year again.
That time when Spring has–sorta–come but Winter makes occasional encore appearances, indoor sports are, basically, over and everybody heads outside–where the rain is, and athletic directors everywhere are living on their communication devices–scheduling, scheduling, re-scheduling, re-scheduling, contemplating cancellations. Bus drivers are stuck waiting to see whether they’re off for a trip or not or contemplating the idea of sitting in a bus full of soaking wet ballplayers or runners or throwers or managers or coaches or whatever. Parents and spectators of all stripes are having the same sort of thoughts and wondering if their raincoats are in the car or if it’s going to be pizza for supper again tonight, and what time would that be anyway? Frost warning? Did anybody hear a frost warning?
Okay, there’s that.
District, league, regional, state finishers–individuals, teams, trips to far places, fans, families (can I say “athletic supporters”?), the whole mob, right up until the very end. And everyone–well, girls, anyway– hoping that the BIG competition date doesn’t fall on the same day as the Prom; I’ve seen them run in curlers…and do pretty well too.
Then there’s the onrush of other stuff : choir program, band finale, senior class recognition program–scholarships, honors of all sorts, attendance stars, attention to everybody else for everything good they are noted for. It’s a great evening. Underclassmen & women get their in-school programs in as well, looking forward to the big deal coming up for them next time. For seniors, the whole year has been filled with “the last” whatever…everything; this is the big finish coming up. The Memorial Day parade, besides being a National Holiday and a remembrance of those whose “last full measure of devotion” enabled our being able to do all of this celebrating, is, in a sense, the “cherry on top”, coming just days after graduation and signaling the real-life beginning of Summer, which , astronomically speaking, actually starts on June 20 th, with the summer solstice and the longest day of the year. Got that?
April is kinda short on popular “named days”–April Fools, Earth Day, Passover; the Full Pink Moon on the 23rd might do in a pinch, but it’s pretty small potatoes. Just keep on keepin’ on, one foot in front of another…and in the case of track stars, really fast.
What IS really fast is all of this coming at us at once…PLUS…the Rotary Golf Outing at SugarBush in support of the Tom Collins Memorial Rotary Walking Trail to be built around Garrettsville’s South Street (Bill Phelps) Park, the opening of the historic time capsule during the festivities on July 6 (Date chosen so that lots of families who get together for the Fourth of July can make it a big weekend and come to see what folks back in 1924 left for us to see and to contribute messages to the future to be put into the new time capsule.) Quite the weekend, folks. Our next big event of this sort might come a little sooner, as the 300th birthday bash may be observed in 2104. Might have to miss that one.
This whole timeline thing is sorta like theSoapbox Derby, picking up speed, second by second, minute by minute. If I ever went on roller-coasters, I’d liken it to that, but not even Disney could get me up in one of those contraptions.
Wheeee!
