This month's blog is a little different. As June ended and July approached, I was unsure of what God would have me share. I celebrated the 3rd, encouraged by my loved ones, the day our loved one would have celebrated his 77th birthday, missing him and with some sadness, but rejoicing that he is "home," spent the 4th with family and enjoyed meeting new friends, and then left on the 5th, the 18th month anniversary of Bill's earthly mission completed, for a weekend trip with our daughter to relax and enjoy some time together. I thought of writing and sharing of some of the "45" July 4th memories that God allowed me to share with the love of my life, each unique in a special way, in fact did share in my journal to my granddaughters so they would be able to read them at a future time.
Awoke early this morning, the eve of the birthday of our youngest son, remembering that day as well as the days, months, and years preceding and following it. There are moments in our lives that completely change the direction of our paths and God sets us on another incredible journey.
Last night, as I was watching the All-Star game and thinking of how it is always at the same time and the same week each year, I suddenly had to know when it occurred in 1978. I can't remember when I was not a baseball fan. My dad loved baseball, he was a Phillies fan, and though I lived in south central Pennsylvania, my mom was from Maryland, Baltimore was the closest baseball city to my hometown, so I became an Orioles fan. I had a radio in my room and often got in trouble for having the games on late in the evening because there had been a rain delay or there was a double-header. I would turn it down low, but more often than not, I would get caught and my mom would tell me "turn off that radio." One of my aunts and her husband often went to Baltimore with their two sons, my cousins. They were the only family members that lived in town, most of the others in my large family were farmers like my grandparents, so occasionally I would get invited to go with them to a game in Baltimore. It was so much fun. Our seats were usually high in the "nosebleed section," but that didn't matter.
When I was 21, God led me to Virginia, and I worked in Washington, D.C., and the Washington, Senators, were added to my list of teams, until they left and became the Texas Rangers, but the Orioles remained my favorite team. When I was transferred to New York with my company, they played against the New York Mets in the 1969 World Series. Most of my coworkers were either Mets or. Yankees fans, so I was the lone Orioles fan in the office. As the years went by, and God brought Bill into my life, and we got married, NFL football became our number one sport. It was our first topic of conversation, we were both Miami Dolphins fans, and our schedules did not allow for much baseball viewing in our first year.
However, that changed as we awaited the birth of our first baby in the spring of 1974. Bill would come home from work, and if he did not have fast pitch softball practice or a game, he would turn on our little TV in our little apartment in Millington, Tennessee, to check out Hank Aaron's quest to tie Babe Ruth's lifetime home run record, and then hit his 15th and 16th career grand slam home runs, passing the record in the National League. It was also the year that Nolan Ryan (California Angels) struck out 19 Red Sox batters but hit the second baseman Doug Griffin in the head with a fastball. He was known for his wildness at that time and opposing hitters were more concerned about being struck, than their ability to square it up. Later that year Hank Aaron was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers and would finish his career in Milwaukee where he started in 1954. We were in the Aleutian Islands during the next three years, 1974-1977, so neither baseball or other sports were accessible to us and we only heard about sports events after the fact. Bill was busy playing fast pitch softball during the Spring and off island for a tournament one year.
Back to the 1978 All-Star game. Because we had not watched baseball for three years prior, nor other sports, and I was a busy mom with two toddlers and expecting another baby, it was not on my radar, and I was unaware of baseball in the news! On July 10th, 1978, in the early evening, all of us took a walk around our neighborhood in Northeast Florida, as was our evening family custom. That night, Grannie Mills was with us. She and Poppa Mills had come to visit so they could be with Paul and Stephanie when I went into the hospital, however, since I was almost two weeks overdue, Poppa had gone back home, getting tired of waiting, and missed his tinkering around their home in Central Florida. As we walked, I asked Paul, probably to get rid of some of his energy, if he wanted to jog with Mommy. Of course, he said yes, and we jogged a little way around the circle which was our usual path. Several hours later, I woke up, realizing my water had broken, got Mama up and told her we were heading to the hospital at NAS Jacksonville. It was a long labor, I was squeezing Bill's hand so tightly, he had to stop and take his wedding band off. At 11:55 AM, we joyfully welcomed our second son, naming him after his Dad. I spent a few hours resting, then began to walk around the hall, stopping at a phone booth, to call my sister-in-love, who was also pregnant, due before I was, and telling her that our baby had arrived. That night, about 12 hours later, her son was born. Later in the evening, Bill had gone home to get Mama, Paul and Stephanie, and I was able to wave to them from the window in my room, but they were not allowed to come up. Stephanie, who was 2, cried, heartbroken because she could not understand why her mommy would not come down and she could not come up.
I may have had a TV in my room, don't really remember, and so I didn't realize that July 11th was the night of the 1978 All Star baseball game in San Diego, California. The announcers were Vin Scully and Brent Musburger in the radio broadcast booth and a future Padres' playoff hero would win the MVP, Steve Garvey who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers at the time. Some of the roster, several future Hall of Famers, included Rollie Fingers, Dave Winfield, Steve Garvey, Carlton Fisk, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Jim Palmer, Goose Gossage, Vida Blue, Tom Seaver, Carl Yastrzemski, George Brett and Joe Morgan. The AL took an early 3-0 lead but the final score was NL 7-3.
It was inevitable that our boys become baseball fans. They played Little League and in All-Star games, and lay on the floor with their best friend, sorting through and trading their baseball cards whenever they were together. We had a makeshift baseball field in our back yard, which groundskeeper mom kept mowed. There were usually stops at the baseball card shop, next to Publix whenever we went to town. They played catch with their Dad in the front yard and made memories to last a lifetime. It became a part of our lives in future years as we continued to attend high school games when Billy coached in Jacksonville and Green Cove Springs and enjoyed going to out of town games at Jet Blue in Fort Myers, Florida.
I'm so thankful for these unforgettable lifetime memories, and for the love of the family that God has gifted to me.
Happy Birthday, Billy! Enjoy your special day tomorrow!
