Teammates…….

What wonderful time I had yesterday catching up with many of my teammates from the 1962-63 & 64 Harlan High School football teams!  It was amazing how many things we all remembered and had a great laughs over.  More than a few times we were teary eyed when our former coach Bill Cricillis gave us one more pep talk about life.  It is amazing that so much time could pass, 50 years! and there would be the closeness of having been a team, still being a team.

It made me reflect driving home last night how unbelievably blessed I was to have had, and still have,  such friends, to have been part of such a team.  In our Junior and Senior years we had great seasons, winning the conference once and missed going to the play offs by a single game.  We had a few stand out players, but we were mostly a bunch of good solid football players that all played a role in the victories.  It was really a great experience to see all these men again, five decades later.  It was homecoming for the Harlan Green Dragons last night and we were thrilled to be the honorary captains for the coin toss.  Walking out to the center of the field I told Tom Pope, it was great to be on the field with him again, his look said it all.  In just a glance I could see what I believe we were all feeling, in spite of the fact that these men have accomplished a lot in their own lives, this was a great honor, and we all relished it.  It was a truly special moment.

I also thought driving the hour and half home, how many great teams I’ve gotten to be a member of, my family, my church, the His Light team, the faithful friends, the Nikon NPS team, the list goes on and on, but the bottom line is God has richly blessed me to let me rub elbows with such great people, people I’ve admired and learned from.  If you can get to this age and look at your life, and see this much joy, you’ve had a great life.  Thank you Lord for the ride……..

Blessings

the pilgrim