Friday Night Football: A Special Memory

Between football games, marching band, soccer, and tennis matches, I have found myself in or near our high school football stadium quite a bit this fall.  My daughter is in band and plays tennis.  Her boyfriend plays on the varsity soccer team, and I just like watching football.  All of that, along with really nice weather this fall, has made it enjoyable to spend this time at the stadium.

This last Friday, I was sitting in the stands as our football team took the lead in the second quarter of the game when my mind shifted to thoughts of my dad.  I thought about how much my dad loved watching high school football.  He watched my older brother play for four years, then continued to go to football games for years and years after my brother, sister, and I graduated.  My dad played high school and college football, so it wasn't a surprise that he loved attending football games.  

I continued to think about him as I watched the game.  It occurred to me that this would be the weekend, 19 years ago, that my dad watched his last high school football game.  He had been fighting non-Hodgkin's leukemia for several years, but that didn't deter him from attending as many games as he could.  I wasn't there 19 years ago, but my mom told me that his friends took him to the game in a wheelchair as he didn't have the strength for all the walking, and none of them had any idea that this would be his final game.  By Sunday, his health started to fail, and he passed on Monday afternoon.  It went mercifully fast, but he had lived a wonderful life.  He had many friends, a good family, and all the sports he could ever want.    

As we punted to the opponent, I thought about the beautiful night.  The sky was dark, the stadium lights bright, the temperature was cool, the crowd was cheering along with the cheerleaders, and the game was close.   I know why my dad loved it.  It was easy to forget about life, easy to lose yourself in the excitement of the game.  He would sit with friends, laugh at their stories, and talk about the game.  The night would often end at the local tavern or VFW to relax and recap the game.  

I couldn't help but smile and let the night sink in.  Halftime came, and my daughter's marching band took the field.  I've seen the show a half dozen times, but that night it was especially spectacular.  The game ended with our team winning, but even better was spending the evening at a football game thinking about dad.