From Sandlot to Just a Memory

"We all lived in the neighborhood for a couple of more years-mostly through junior high school-and every summer was great. But none of them ever came close to that first one. When one guy would move away, we never replaced him on the team with anyone else. We just kept the game going like he was still there."
- Smalls, from the film Sandlot

One of the best kids films of all-time especially for boys both young and old is the movie The Sandlot. A simple story about a bunch of kids playing sandlot baseball on hot summer days. Watching this film always brings me back to my childhood and the fun we had as kids and some of the crazy conversations we had before, during, and after games. Some adolescent hijinx:

"Where did your old man get that ball?"

"I don't know. Some lady gave it to him. She even signed her name on it. Some lady named Ruth. Baby Ruth."

"Babe Ruth!!?"

As a grade school kid we played our summer baseball games every night after dinner. Our sandlot was a field next to my best friends house, half-a-block from my home and we would play  until nightfall or until the invasion of the mosquitos, whichever came first. Our bases were different every night, some nights we either used newspaper, empty pop bottles, or just a plain old twig. When we became really desperate we would use the shirts on our back, anything to play the game.

The other day while driving in the area I decided to drive through our old neighborhood for the first time in over 20 years. The house I lived in was still there but painted differently. The once wooden fence that housed our backyard and our hand-made frozen ice rinks for wintertime hockey was of yesteryear, replaced with a crooked, rusty iron fence. The grade school down the street was gone, replaced by a much larger school, a learning center. And where the old sandlot was, now sits a home. Much of the neighborhood has changed, but the memories remain.

Memories will always be there no matter how much those things around us change. A lifetime of memories can never be replaced.

Memories and thoughts age, just as people do. But certain thoughts can never age,
and certain memories can never fade.