Remembering the Past
What triggers a memory? It is normally something you see, smell, hear…and remembrances flood back.
This week and the month overall hit me hard. It was a text from an 80-year-old. It was smell of popcorn. It was the sound of a crowd in utter excitement while a basketball bounced. It was my mom’s smile amongst 18,000 attendees.
Dad’s birthday was this last month. It was the first since we lost him to leukemia.
While there are many tremendous memories of Dad, there are a good percentage of my fondest memories around basketball games. And while he coached me in my youth, it is at games as a spectator that stand out. Endless games at the Devaney Center in Lincoln. Watching Kansas multiple times in their 1988 tourney run. Being in Charlotte at the 1994 Final Four. Countless Big 8 or 12 Tournaments in Kansas City. We attended so many…
But it was Mom he enjoyed most going to games with…anywhere. Cameron Indoor at Duke. Rupp at Kentucky. Kemper in Kansas City. Mom is a basketball guru and junky.
Bringing me to this last week. The NCAA tournament came to Omaha. I took Mom and my son to games where we had no rooting interest…and we loved it.
Memories filled the day and all four games I watched.
The text message to me that came from Dad’s longtime friend saying he missed Dad and their annual chat on his birthday. The smell and sounds of the games, excitement of fans cheering wildly, the unique smell of arena popcorn. Seeing Dad in my son’s eyes while carrying his grandfather’s name. But the best was Mom’s smile, loving her favorite sport. Joy for her that has been greatly reduced the past two years.
I am not sad. While I miss Dad so much, all of these memories are so positive. I choose to see and remember the joy. The blessings. Most boys can never even imagine the kind of relationship I actually enjoyed with my father.
March Madness is March Memories as well.
