Growing Young

Every other Wednesday, I have dinner with my grandparents at their church. We visit for a while, go eat at their church, and then visit again at their house. It is good to see them but I often feel a little weird about dinner at their church. It feels like I'm showing up for the food and that's it. I know the grandparents like it so we go. This past Wednesday, I was actually really excited to go to SBPC Wednesday night supper - it was All American Night.

As odd as it sounds, I L.O.V.E. this night. Every year, the men take over the meal on the Wednesday after Opening Day of baseball season. They are an older congregation so the men are all nearly old enough to be my grandpa. They really do go All-American. The meal is hot dogs with ballpark fixins and sides. They have apple pie for dessert. They walk around with little paper hats and drinks on serving trays yelling "Cold (root) beer!" They toss cracker jacks and peanuts at your table. Abbot and Costello's "Who's on First" played on a loop while we ate. When the meal was over, we played baseball trivia (provided by AARP) at our tables and sang a rousing rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" while a sweet little old man played his banjo. They had a list of the best baseball movies on each table and they put together a decent list (for the most part).

The best part of the night is watching these men really get into it. While each man had gray hair (if they had any left), they were just little boys again. Each one of them were remembering the game they love. Each trivia question didn't just get answered, they got explained and stories were told. Their voices may have warbled but they were full of enthusiasm. They were highly engaged and making a night of it. I imagine that this is what "The Sandlot" kids will look like in their sixties and seventies.

I don't think we ever outgrow our inner child. I truly believe that no matter how old we get, there's still that little kids who wants to play. That night, I have no doubt that those men would have given anything to slide into home for the winning run or struck out the last batter in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. They were itching for it. Though our bodies age, our spirits never do. I saw it Wednesday night. It was in the twinkle in their eye.....