Monday Memory

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With my my own daughter's recent very first field day, brought a vivid memory that happened in my 5th year of life.

It was my very first field day. Or my first "would have been" field day.

Two days before the last day of Kindergarten I was at the neighbor's house playing baseball.

He was a baseball junkie, my neighbor, 4 years older than me with curly blonde hair, a great curve ball and a sweetheart toward the neighborhood tomboy. (me)

He had a huge lawn and every single summer day we played flies up on it.

It was a warm evening when I walked into a practice baseball swing. Connected right at my mouth and sent spit and blood flying.

After an emergency trip to the dentist where he pulled two very cute and jammed in baby teeth, I spent the next two days taking it easy on the living room couch. It was made complete with a tv tray to watch Romper Room and sip Chicken and Stars soup.

When my friend Veronica got home from school that day, she came for a visit and told me all about the Field Day's events. Tug-o-War, kickball, relay races, even a spraying down of water by the local fire department.

I missed my Field Day, you see, but the neighbor boy (Mike Bernardo) brought me two coloring books and brand new crayons. He even sat and colored with me on the gold shag carpeting.

Not a bad trade off.

My friend Veronica even thought so.